Tormented
by Dolium-Praedonum
Summary: Sometimes, terrible things are just under your nose, right under your feet, or all in your head. When Sakura and her absentee roommate move into a new apartment, she is slowly introduced to strange smells, sounds with no origin, and an unwelcome tenant. Saku/Ino, AU Halloween Special with Sasu/Naru on the side.
1. Intro

Sometimes, terrible things are just under your nose, right under your feet, or all in your head. When Sakura and her absentee roommate move into a new apartment, she is slowly introduced to strange smells, sounds with no origin, and an unwelcome tenant.

* * *

I've been working on this on and off since midsummer, saving it for Halloween time! I want to finish this by October 31st. It will be told in 6 Parts; an intro, the months leading up to Halloween, and Halloween night.

Before anyone gets invested in this story I want to mention some things that could turn people off;

-This story will involve: Haunting/supernatural, murder, torture, blood/bodily fluids.

-Sakura is a social worker closely tied to a hospital. There will be references and discussion of domestic violence, but I will not talk about sexual assault. All references to abuse will be reminiscent of things I have experienced in my professional life, so as not to be exaggerated or unrealistic.

-This story will also involve pairings, but the pairings are not the main focus of the story. (Pairings include Saku/Ino and Sasu/Naru.)

* * *

Thursday, November 1st

5:56 AM

"Start from the beginning. I want you to think hard and remember…."

Sakura didn't open her eyes. It felt easier this way, with the words seeming to find their way towards her through the darkness. Gentle, and unobtrusive. She breathed slowly and concentrated on keeping the cup in her hands from shaking.

Relax.

"Do you remember? Can you remember the first time something felt wrong?"

Another slow breath and a small nod. Two sea foam green eyes opened, framed by dark bags, and fixed on the man on the couch across from her.

It wasn't that she didn't trust Kakashi. Far from it: sitting in the office of chief of police was the safest place she had been in a long time. He was an honest man (which was rare in law enforcement); he was a friend. Ostensibly, she suspected the worst of what had happened was over. The story should be over, complete with closure. However, after so many months of trauma her body was reflexively braced for the moment when the calm and the stillness in the room would be ripped away from her, bleeding into the next chapter of uncertainty and paranoia.

"Yeah..I can. The smell was always there but I think what I noticed.. it must have been..the hair."

She put the cup down to rub her fingers, rub away the invisible strands that itched them still. The light of the early morning sun was spilling into the office, illuminating the warm browns and olives but she could not find peace there.

Just...not yet.

"They were so long." She continued, "And the color...I knew it couldn't have belonged to any of my friends. I..I mostly lived alone."

"Where did you see it?" The questions came slowly from his deep, soothing voice. "Where was the first hair?"

She closed her eyes again against a mix of shame and disgust. With two words, Sakura began the story of how her life had come to unfold.

"The laundry."

* * *

It had began so innocuously, she never really noticed.

If it hadn't been for Naruto, maybe she never would have. If Naruto hadn't plucked that strand off the folded pillow case with his big, tan hands and a leer, maybe the horror would have started differently.

"Oooooh, what's this?" Naruto had teased. "You finally get laid?"

Sakura had looked at the hair for just a moment before rolling her eyes. Shrugging it off.

"Probably from someone at work. Don't be gross."

And so Naruto had let it fall to the floor, forgotten.

Sakura had finished folding the laundry, they had eaten together and he left for the station.

But after that…

"Where did you find the next hair, Sakura?"

Sakura picked up the cup once more. "Every where. I started finding them...everywhere."

As she was leaving work the next day, her supervisor Tsunade picked one off the sleeve of her coat.

And throughout the week she kept finding them on her clothes, in her bed, around the office.

When the bathroom drain became clogged, it was clump of red hair.

And Sakura had been aware of these occurrences, every single one, but a convenient reasoning was never far behind one of those long, thin strands of a stranger's hair.

"Sakura?"

She looked back up at him, forgetting how much time had passed.

"Yes?"

"What happened then?"


	2. Part I

5 Months Earlier

* * *

Friday, May 13th

6:24 AM

Sakura pulled out of the parking lot, switching on the music and driving fast to Konoha University Hospital. She had been texted late last night about a new case brought in via ambulance. They would be waiting for her in room 115; the trauma unit. Sakura deliberately loosened her grip on the steering wheel, mentally preparing herself for the day ahead.

Deep breath in, slow breath out. She was familiar with the aftermath of violence; physical, emotional. It was her job to help the survivors to find safety, support and housing, and Sakura was getting to be damn good at it.

Twenty minutes later, she was pulling into her usual spot and speed walking into the tremendous building that was always bustling with movement. She passed through the sliding doors into the familiar well lit lobby with modern furniture and gray-blue walls. She snagged the pass from her purse and flashed it to one of the familiar receptionists as she approached the expansive, rounded white desk that housed each of their windows.

Moegi, one of the new assistants recognized Sakura and waved her over. "Tsunade call you in?"

"Shizune, actually."

Moegi didn't acknowledge her response, having turned her attention to the computer where she was typing speedily. "Your patient was moved to room 425."

Inwardly, Sakura sighed in relief at her client's move to a noncritical floor.

"Thank you, Moegi." Sakura said by way of parting. She turned to climb the three flights of stairs, slowing her pace and preparing herself for the potential rejection. Domestic violence was not an easy cycle to break for either party. No matter how many studies she read, or cases she'd seen, the resistance wasn't something she could understand.

But it wasn't her job to understand; it was her job to help.

When she pushed open the door to the fourth floor, she caught sight of long, blond hair walking towards her from Nurse Station 1. A rush of warmth filled her stomach and she felt her breath start to slow. Ino Yamanaka waved from down the hall, pleased to see her.

Sakura made to say hello, but before she could Shizune's voice came from behind her.

"Sakura."

Sakura watched Ino send her an apologetic smile and knock to enter a patient's room. She masked her disappointment and turned to where the doctor was standing by the Med B pod.

"Ayame has the chart for your patient, come find me when you're finished."

She accepted the paperwork Ayame handed over. Patient's damage was severe;

 _History of Present Illness: Pt presented to the Emergency Department by ambulance at 10:34pm, 5/12 following a domestic violence incident for which police became involved. Pt has been diagnosed with a broken nose and multiple fractured ribs to the left side, one of which caused a punctured lung. Chest tube has been placed on the left and lung has been re-inflated before being admitted to the floor for further observation._

 _Objective Findings:_

 _General: Alert and orientated, well developed, well nourished._

 _HEENT: Head- 3cm raised area of bruising noted to left temple, tender when touched, bruising noted over bridge of nose, and under eyes bilaterally. Significant swelling around left eye-upper lid swollen to point of vision obstruction. Eyes-PEARL, EOM intact, small conjunctival hemorrhage noted to left eye at 7 o'clock position. Ears-with in normal limits, small 1cm superficial laceration noted to right pinna. Mouth/Throat-right upper lip swollen and shallow laceration about ½ cm in length noted-in good stages of healing with 1 suture placed._

 _Cardiac: Regular rate and rhythm, no rubs, murmurs, or gallops noted_

 _Lungs/Chest: Chest appears to be rising/falling symmetrically..._

A serious assault; that was more than she needed. She thanked Ayame and went to room 425.

Sakura relaxed her posture and put on a soft, welcoming smile as she knocked once on the door before gently opening it.

"Kira?"

The woman lying on the bed jerked slightly at her name. "Yes?"

Sakura entered the room and coming to sit beside the other woman. She was heavily bandaged and her face was purple, red and swollen. "Hello, Kira. I'm Sakura Haruno, and I'm a social worker here with the hospital. How are you feeling now?"

* * *

Sakura shut the door behind her with a soft sigh. It had gone well; the patient showed little reluctance to help. Sakura walked down the hall to break room with a small smile on her face. It was open, so Sakura leaned on the entrance.

"Knock, knock."

Shizune looked up from her laptop. "Ah, Sakura. Here, let me finish this chart."

Sakura nodded and waited for the sound of typing to cease before she continued. "It went well. She seemed shaken, but very alert and receptive to her options. She expressed anger towards the perpetrator, I think there is a chance she will testify should we get her the right support. I have a few phone calls to make, but she's very promising."

"Excellent work, Haruno."

Sakura smiled at the praise. "Thank you, Shizune, but let's not count any chickens."

Shizune turned back to her laptop. "You seem to have a good read of these situations. I am not worried."

"When do you expect she can be released? Should I call the emergency shelter or the Sanders House?"

Shizune scrolled through her notes on the screen. "Hmm. I think she'll be ready to go in a few days. How long do you need?"

Sakura shrugged. "I could take her tomorrow, but I'd prefer another day or two to get everything set up."

Shizune nodded before her eyes shifted to look behind Sakura, and she called to the woman who was walking past. "Tsunade-sama?"

The blonde stopped and returned to the entrance that Sakura was blocking. "Hello, Sakura. What is it, Shizune?"

"Sakura needs to know when to set up housing for the patient in 425."

"Ah," she turned to Sakura. "You need time? You've got time. She can be released on Monday, should be healed enough by then."

Sakura nodded with a smile. "I'll make it work."

Tsunade's face suddenly switched from her professional default to what could only be described as a leer. "Eh, what's this?"

Sakura blanched a little as the doctor reached out and plucked a long, unfamiliar red hair from her grey sweater.

"Did someone finally get some action?" The older woman teased.

Shizune snickered and Sakura rolled her eyes, batting away the hand that was dangling the hair in front of her face. "Hardly. That must have come from the patient."

"Nah ah, the patient in room 425's hair is much lighter than this. Shorter, too." Tsunade puffed out her ample chest as she said this, as though it were proof she had discovered something about one of her favorite, though somewhat reserved colleagues.

"Hmm, well it certainly didn't come from my lack of a sex life. I'm not even done unpacking, and you think I found time for a girlfriend?"

Shizune piped up from where she was still seated at the break table. "How is your new place?"

She couldn't suppress a grin. "It's great. Right along the creek, just as promised. It's just a few blocks away from busy streets, but the property is surrounded by so many trees you can't even tell. It's beautiful. And the kitchen is new, I guess it was just renovated after the last tenant left."

"How are your neighbors?" Shizune asked, a bit cheekily. Shitty neighbors had been the impotence for the move in the first place.

"Much better! Even the layout is great; it's a big complex but there are only four units to a building. So far I've heard my upstairs neighbors a few times, that's all. Except.." She stopped, not wanting to complain about a much nicer place.

"Except what?" Shizune's pressed, her eyes evaluating.

"There's, um. A weird smell?"

"Like mold?" Tsunade asked.

"No, like..rotting? But it's only in the kitchen, and I've only gotten a whiff a few times. It's nothing serious, I was thinking the upstairs neighbors might compost or something; their deck has a bunch of tomato plants."

"Well, it still sounds far better than your last place. Let me know if they have a vacancy. It would be a delight to live closer to my godson." Tsunade winked at her.

Sakura smiled at her boss, imagining her roommate's horror at Tsunade living on their complex.

* * *

When Sakura became a social worker, she hadn't anticipated to spend this much time at the hospital. However, her ability to network and comfortably operate in the fast paced medical environment made her an ideal liaison. Unfortunately, many of her cases came from children and adults brought in for battery or neglect. Assisting them with empathy while maintaining the professional emotional boundary was exhausting, and sometimes difficult to leave at work. But with her frequent visits came a familiarity with the hospital staff, as well as all of the other departments that would come and go (some far more pleasant than others). She was often able to leave a client and visit briefly with a provider, an incredibly welcome reprieve from the emotional intensity of clients.

She had grown close with Tsunade there, Godmother to her childhood friend and current roommate, as well as met Sasuke and Kakashi, officer and police chief of Konoha respectively (and two of the only officers on the force Sakura could stand working with). But by far, the person she was most grateful to have met and looked forward to seeing was Ino Yamanaka. She was an assertive, bossy, hysterically funny physician's assistant who was doing her final rotations through the clinic. She had ways of getting patients to open up like no one else Sakura had ever met. Where Tsunade was talent, Ino was touch. Clients Sakura received from Ino's care were calm, comfortable and cooperative.

In fact, Sakura admired her so much that it was nearly impossible to speak to her properly. It was not uncommon for Sakura's brain function to halt completely during their conversations. Or for her pulse to speed up when a chart read 'Patient Provider; Ino Yamanaka'. Or to see that signature hair dusting over a lab coat.

Sighing at the hopelessness of her crush, Sakura proceeded through the automatic exit of Konoha University Hospital and out into the misty afternoon, where she passed by a familiar pair of faces.

"Sasuke, Itachi, good morning." She greeted to the two tall, dark haired brothers.

Sasuke nodded his greeting while Itachi smiled at her. "Good morning, Sakura."

"What are you doing here?" She inquired, noting that Sasuke was in full uniform, and Itachi in a suit that probably cost more than her entire move did.

"I'm here to pick up a perp. Some drunk idiot got himself arrested last night for a B&E. Cut himself up falling onto the glass he'd broken, lost a lot of blood before the ride over here. He's patched up enough to take to jail." Sasuke replied.

"Ino, Sasuke tells me this happened in your neighborhood. Please be careful." Itachi informed her.

Sasuke snorted at his older brother. "Sakura moved last month, genius."

"Much better neighborhood," Sakura chimed in.

Itachi just smiled at her again. "I am glad to hear. Sasuke, Sakura, I'm sorry to excuse myself so soon but I have a meeting with Tsunade."

"Before you go, we're planning a housewarming party a few Saturdays from now, on the 4th. Think you can make it?"

Itachi nodded. "Of course, I'll put it on my calendar."

She grinned, "Thanks, Itach. What about you Sasuke?"

"Do you still live with that idiot?"

Sakura caught the twitch of Itachi's lip in the corner, the one that signified unholy pleasure at someone else's expense.

"As a matter of fact I do," She said with no small amount of cheek. "But come on, you know you want to see my new place. I'm sure Naruto will be better behaved. Think you can control yourself?"

The last time Sasuke had visited her for a dinner party, he and Naruto had completely absorbed the evening by engaging in passionate arguments about anything that came up in conversation. They were stopped before it came to blows, but Sakura has still never seen her longtime friend's composure crack in such a way. It was why she liked Sasuke; unlike many of the other officers on the force, beneath Sasuke's occasionally grouchy attitude, he had a wealth of compassion and emotional intelligence. He attended de-escalation tactic trainings, never hesitated to step in if his colleagues were out of line, and was never guilty of roughing anyone up. He was good and he knew it, which could make him impatient and smug, but Sakura had rarely seen him drop his stoic professionalism. It brought her endless delight to tease him about his one discretion at any opportunity. [fix this]

"Come, Sasuke. It wouldn't do to be rude." Itachi placed a patronizing hand on his brother's shoulder.

Sasuke quickly shoved it off. "Whatever, Sakura. Just keep him on a leash this time."

Sakura smirked. "I had planned on giving you the pleasure. But if you'd rather watch, I wouldn't mind."

Although the glare Sasuke leveled at her used to make her chest feel tight, Sakura couldn't stifle her snicker. She stepped close to lean up and give him a quick, one-armed hug goodbye. [fix this too]

"Only joking. But I would love to have you there."

Sasuke looked down at her, his stony face softening the slightest bit.

"Hn."

* * *

When she left work at 5, Sakura was exhausted from a long week of stressful cases and moving to their new location. Despite the mind-numbing fatigue, she felt herself perk up somewhat when she arrived in her parking spot and looked up at her new home. She got her bags together and walked up the wide, pebbled pathway to their stoop. When she opened the door, Naruto was preparing dinner.

"Hey, I'm home," Sakura called into the apartment. She kicked off her comfortable ankle boots and walked through the living room toward the rich aroma coming from the kitchen. She passed the couch that had been pushed against a wall of boxes and their tv (which rested atop another tower of boxes). The apartment was sparse, but it felt clean and fresh. They had unpacked the necessities and left the decorations, spare blankets, and non-essentials to be sorted out over the weekend. They had been on a bit of a time crunch: Naruto was employed as a firefighter, and his work schedule of two weeks on, one week off meant there was a finite of time he could help. He made good money and even though she loved her childhood friend dearly, she relished the balance between being a roommate and living alone.

"Hey, you're home on time!"

Naruto was standing at the stove, grinning over what was undoubtedly another pot of homemade ramen. She dropped her work bag and coat onto a chair and went into the kitchen to fetch down a glass for wine.

"Rough day?"

Sakura sat down at the table and nodded. She reached a hand behind her shoulder and rubbed at a knot there. "If you really want to know, I had a client tell me that she was tired of 'choosing to commit suicide' by staying with her partner."

Naruto let out a murmur of support and came to bat her hand away, rubbing at her tense shoulders. He could be an absolute handful sometimes, with his childish enthusiasm and irrepressible energy, but he was also one of the sweetest people she knew. He was an unyieldingly loyal friend to those he cared for.

"That's tough."

Sakura sighed. "At least she wants help."

Naruto gave her shoulders a squeeze. "She's in the right place then, if she's working with you."

She smiled up at him, feeling thankful he was home this week. "Thanks, Naruto."

He rubbed at the back of his head sheepishly. "Ah, well, I knew something was wrong when you didn't give me any shit for cooking ramen again."

"At this point, I'm too hungry to care."

Suddenly, he reached down, startling her to pick a hair off her shoulder. It looked just like the one Shizune had pulled of her this morning, and she realized it was identical to the one on her pillow the night before.

"Again, huh? Didn't know you had such a thing for gingers."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Why am I surrounded by perverts? Shut up and bring me dinner."

"Huh? who else is a perv?" He asked as he made his way back to the kitchen.

"Your godmother."

He grimaced slightly as he placed a bowl in front of her, nodding at her thanks. "Ah, yeah that sounds right. You know I'm kiddin' though. I think whoever lived here last must have had hair like this."

"Oh, yeah?" Sakura prompted between mouthfuls of vegetable.

"Yeah I took a shower this morning and the drain clogged. I fished out a clump of hairs like those. It was pretty gnarly."

She snorted, and finished her meal while she listened to Naruto's adventures from the day in the new neighborhood.

"So anyway, I got some of the stuff up on the walls. I figure we can do the rest together tomorrow and we can get it all done before I'm back to work."

Sakura stretched her arms up over her head. "Sounds good. I'm beat for tonight though, I think I'm just gonna grab a shower and go to bed. Thanks for dinner."

"'Course." Naruto answered, checking his phone. "You're gettin old, Sakura. It's not even 8."

She smiled ruefully at him. "Asshole. I was gonna offer to do the dishes in the morning, but now you're on your own."

"But Saaaaakuraaaaa~" Naruto whined.

"Nope, sorry." Sakura waved dismissively to him as she headed down the hallway to her room.

Sakura passed the mirror Naruto had hung by just a few paces before her blood ran cold, and a gasp escaped her lips. She turned sharply back to the mirror, where instead of her own reflection, she had seen a woman with long, red hair staring at her.

"Sakura? Are you okay?" Naruto was up and beside her in a second.

She stared at her own reflection, feeling the rush of adrenaline push through her body. She touched her short, pink hair as she tried to process what had just happened.

She turned to Naruto, and laughed a tense, nervous laugh. "This week must have been worse than I thought. I thought I just saw…" She trailed off, not sure how to answer. "Not my reflection."

Naruto's face was a mix of concern and amusement. He ruffled her hair with affection.

"Go get some sleep, Sakura."

* * *

A/N: I am a sucker for full cast fics and adult friendships. And sasunaru.

Please drop a review or a comment to tell me what worked!


	3. Part II

4 Months Earlier

* * *

Thursday, June 2nd

5:35pm

When Sakura came home, she was walking on air. She had gone to the hospital at the end of her work day for a quick meeting with Shizune about an underage patient, and had a fantastic surprise. Often, the information they exchanged about patients went through phone calls or email, but Sakura enjoyed visiting them when she could. Not only did it look good to keep up the close relationship with the hospital, but it came with perks;

"Ino is coming to our housewarming party!"

Naruto jumped at his roommates outburst, but his face immediately broke out into a grin when her words finally registered. "What? That's great!"

Sakura set down her work bag and victory-danced her way through the living room toward Naruto, who high fived her. "Yes!"

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at her moves. She wasn't often animated, but when she was it could rival his own antics.

"How'd it happen?"

"Well, I stopped off at the hospital on the way home to talk about one of my new patients with Shizune, and when I walked by the break room on my way out, Ino was in there! I stopped to say hi and we ended up talking until she had to go back on, and ah, I feel like a total teenager but I got to walk her back to her station. She'd asked what we were doing this weekend and I told her about the party and she said, 'that sounds like fun', so I said 'You should come' and I gave her this little smile and she said, 'that would be nice'. Ahh!" Sakura couldn't resist another victory wiggle.

Naruto blinked at the rush of words. "Alright, motor-mouth, that's awesome!"

Sakura shot him a halfhearted glare and moved to plop down on the couch. As soon as she sank down into the cushion she could feel the drain of her day setting in. Naruto's face fell at the sight of her fatigue.

"Hey, are you okay?" He looked like he wanted to take a step over to her, but instead shifted his weight where he stood. Not a good sign. "Look, I know that I just got back, and you're excited about Ino, but you don't seem like you've been doing so hot."

She felt her lips pull to the side, trying to ignore the immediate defensiveness at his suggestion. "Yeah..it's just been a hard week."

Naruto frowned in a way that told her he was expecting her to say that. "You've been givin' me the same line every time I come home, I think since we've moved here."

Sakura rubbed at the bridge of her nose, annoyed that he was right. "Ok, yeah I'm stressed out. I've been trying not to bring it home, but I'm tired. I..I really haven't been sleeping well."

Naruto looked a little surprised. "What? Really?"

"Yeah, I can't shut my brain off to sleep and when I do I've...been having weird dreams."

He came to sit on the couch beside her, nodding with a little bit of a grimace. "Oh, yeah. Nightmares are tough. Sometimes the guys, er," He frowned again, correcting himself. "Well, not all of us are guys now so I can't say that. Sometimes the other firefighters get nightmares after bad calls. Doesn't happen to me a lot but you know...it's okay. I hear it's normal. But, heh, I guess you know all about that already."

That pulled the corner of her lip into a slight smile, and he grinned encouragingly. He held up his hands and joked, "I didn't mean to man-splain to ya."

She smacked at his arm lightly. "Good boy. It's okay, I get where you were going with it. They're not really nightmares, though. I don't really remember what's happening, in them, but when I wake up I'm..sweaty and my heart is racing." She ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know. I'm sure it's just stress. There were a lot of hard cases to go through this week."

They fell back into routine as Sakura painted broad strokes about the patients who were keeping her up at night. They made dinner and ate together before putting something inane on the TV. She made a mental note to hide her stress and fatigue better from Naruto, as she said goodnight.

* * *

Sakura walked through the apartment, her body feeling oversized and bulky in the space of her home with each step. The walls blurred in and out of shadowy existence as she looked around with heavy eyes. Despite the fuzzy boundaries of the world, she understood that this was her apartment. She rounded the corner of the hallway, slowly making her way toward the kitchen.

While Sakura was aware she was dreaming, she was unable to control what was happening. She stood in the center of the kitchen, rooted to the spot as a slow feeling of dread began to creep over her.

She jumped at a sudden, horrible sound coming from the sink, her movement feeling sharp and out of place. It was a tremendously loud, metallic grinding. It choked and sputtered, like a fork stuck in a garbage disposal.

Sakura watched the drain as it creaked and groaned and screamed up at her. To her horror, something began to bubble up from its depths to pool in the sink. She quickly realized that whatever it was, it was not a liquid. It pulsed as a mass as it grew, red and muddy in color. It began to rise, as though sentient.

It was hair.

She shrieked and backed away, only to feel something ghosting across the back of her neck. When she turned she saw another column of hair had grotesquely wriggled out from the burners on the stove like vines to caress her skin.

Sakura screamed and thrashed, trying to disentangle herself from the disgusting feeling of stringy, human hair wrapping around her. She began to tear at the chords that pulled at her arms, but suddenly two shot out from each side and secured her wrists. She couldn't move them at all, and she screamed louder in terror and began kicking as hard as she could to get away.

"Sakura!"

Sakura opened her eyes to see a panicked Naruto, inches from her face. Her breathing was ragged and her throat felt scratchy and dry. When she looked down she saw her bed was a mess, she had been tangled in sheets and Naruto's strong, tanned hands were holding her wrists firmly. He let her go the moment he realized she was staring at where he gripped her.

"It was just a dream, you're okay," He said with a calm that his expression didn't reflect.

She sat up fully, registering that it was morning. When she spoke, her voice was hoarse. "What..uh, what happened?"

"You were screaming in your sleep, dude. I thought someone had broken in or something, but you were in here alone, fist fighting your bed."

She blinked away surprise and confusion. "Sorry, Naruto. That was... really weird. I don't think that's ever happened before."

He paused, biting at his lip as he pondered. "Well, you did used to sleepwalk, remember? In high school mom told your prom date about finding you asleep in the tub, and you were so embarrassed you blushed all the way down your neck."

A small bark of laughter escaped her at the memory, and she laid her head in a shaky palm. "Jesus, I forgot about that. That was just hormones though, right?"

Naruto ruffled her hair. "I don't remember where Freud landed on that one."

Sakura sighed deeply, struggling to swallow through the rawness of her throat. "Sorry I woke you up."

Naruto's frown returned. "Dude, why are you sorry? I'm good with you as long as you're okay. _Are_ you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah of course. It was just a dream, like I was telling you about." She could tell he wasn't convinced, but she didn't want to dwell on it. "Here, let me buy you breakfast. Where do you want to go?"

Naruto's face lit up. "Really?"

* * *

Saturday, June 4th

6:15pm

Sakura was still cutting fruit for the party when the first knock came to their door.

"Naruto, can you get that?" Sakura shouted from where she stood in the kitchen with hands sticky from kiwi.

"I'm on it!" He hollered back as he came charging out of their office. She heard his heavy footfalls through the living room, and the creaking of the door as he flung it open.

"Hi, son." Minato greeted, pulling Naruto into a quick hug.

"Hey dad! It's good to see you guys." Naruto beam as he kissed his mother's forehead.

"Naruto," She said lovingly as she patted his cheek firmly and stepped into the apartment. "It's good to see you too, honey. You and Sakura have done very well here! It's gorgeous."

Minato nodded. "It was a beautiful drive over. Where is Sakura?"

At her name she poked her head around the kitchen inlet. "Hi Minato, Kushina! Naruto, do you want to give them the tour? I'll be done in here soon."

"Sure!"

Naruto took his parents around their new home, telling them about the spider they found their first week (it was too big to kill; they had collected it in a jar and flung it off the back deck), and how cool the management was, and about the gross hair in the drain (and "all over Sakura's room, _HA_!" to quote Naruto).

Sakura felt a strange pit form in her stomach hearing him loudly tell his parents about the long, red hairs that had been left behind. It was like she had swallowed a rock, each word plunging it deeper and deeper into her gut. It left her agitated, as flashes from her dream skirted through her consciousness.

"Naruto," Sakura scolded when they returned. "You're being too loud. You're going to bother the neighbors." She turned to Kushina, kissing their hellos. "They don't even know we're having a party; no one was home when I tried to invite them."

Naruto spoke around a mouth full of food he had nicked from the table. "Didn't you hear? They moved out."

Sakura paused in her chopping. "What? When?"

He shrugged, swallowing. "End of last month, I think."

Kushina ribbed her son. "Did you scare them off already?"

Sakura frowned. She hadn't noticed their absence. In fact, she remembered quite a bit of creaking from the upstairs last night as she had laid awake, unable to sleep.

She pushed the creeping unease away and put down the knife in favor of washing her hands. She greeted Kushina properly with a firm hug and accepted a bottle of champagne from Minato.

"You should always keep champagne in your fridge, kids. You never know when you'll need to celebrate." Kushina told them with a cheeky smile.

Sakura thank her and went to start on the vegetables, but when she returned to her cutting board, the knife was nowhere to be found.

"Seriously?" She asked irritably.

"What?" Naruto asked, watching with puzzlement as Sakura searched around the kitchen.

"Very funny, Naruto." She said sarcastically. "Where did you put it?"

"Where's what, Sakura?"

"My knife! I just had it."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I didn't hide your stupid knife. You're probably just getting old. Ow!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and glared at Sakura. "Jeez…"

Minato laughed, putting an arm around his son, subtly pulling him away from the line of fire. "It's good to see you're still getting along so well, after all these years."

Sakura gave up as Minato and Naruto began a conversation about work, and grabbed a different knife to work open a bell pepper.

"So Sakura, will we be seeing your parents tonight?" Kushina asked as she opened a bottle of wine Sakura had approved from the fridge.

She shook her head, not looking up from her cutting board. "They're not back yet."

Kushina snapped her fingers, remembering. "That's right! They're still, where was it, Sweden?"

"Yeah. We skyped earlier today though. They're having a great time."

Kushina smiled warmly at her, and offered a glass of wine.

Naruto's parents had come early, as was their custom. Sakura had learned quickly that they preferred to be there first and make an early exit from these events, leaving their son and honorary daughter to have plenty of uninterrupted time with their friends at the end of the night.

As more guests began to trickle in, Sakura excused herself to change into something a little more flattering incase Ino actually showed up. She caught herself with a goofy smile at the thought.

She had done her makeup earlier in the day, was a change of clothes and a once over in her mirror before turning to get back to the party. Before she could, however, something on the bed caught her eye. When she looked back, she saw that the knife she had been using on the fruit was lying in the center of her pillow.

The sight made her feel nauseous.

"What the hell?"

She went to her bed and picked it up, expecting to find juice staining her pillow. There was none. She patted it, searching for moisture, but it wasn't even tacky. Inspecting the knife, it looked as though it had been dry for some time.

Sakura brought it back out to the living area, looking around for Naruto.

She found him, standing with his dad. They were drinking something out of their reusable party cups and chatting amiably out on the deck with Kiba. Stepping out into the warm summer evening, she held out the knife to him in her palm.

"Very funny."

Naruto looked down at what she held. "Oh, you found your knife. Good; the geriatric ward isn't taking new clients."

Kiba snickered, but Sakura wasn't amused. "How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"How did you hide the knife from me?"

Naruto shook his head in confusion, seriousness coming over his expression. "I didn't hide your knife, where did you find it?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes, trying to gauge his honesty. It didn't seem like he was lying, but he had gotten good at fooling her. "It was on my pillow. And I could swear I didn't see you leave the kitchen since your parents got here."

Minato spoke up. "I love a good prank, so I hate to tell you Sakura, but he's been with me the whole time."

"You really are getting old, eh Sakura?"

Sakura glared daggers at Kiba until he coughed awkwardly and mumbled something about getting another drink.

"Man, that's kinda spooky, huh Sakura?" Naruto wondered.

She frowned. "Are you trying to scare me?"

Her face was beginning to look menacing, never a good sign when she was holding a sharp object. Naruto put up his hands in a placating manner. "Hey, of course not! I wouldn't do that. Well, I would totally do that, but that's not what's happening this time."

Sakura couldn't figure out how the knife got in her room. She was sure that she hadn't taken it in there with her by mistake. And even if she had, why would she put it on her pillow?

She finally conceded with frustration."Okay, but this is getting weird. I feel like my things are never where I left them anymore. I've been losing everything."

Naruto's face suddenly lit up. "Sakura! Do you think we have a ghost!"

Sakura blinked at him humorlessly. "Naruto. Shut up. I haven't ruled you out as a suspect, yet. You better watch your back."

Naruto rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, sure Sakura. I'm _so_ scared."

"Son," Minato chimed in helpfully, "Do you remember how the last prank war between the two of you ended?"

Naruto's head shot to his dad so fast Sakura thought he gave himself whiplash. He swallowed nervously at her, probably remembering the awkward, painful months it took for his eyebrows to grow back.

Sakura raised her own immaculate eyebrows in challenge before leaving him stuttering an apology.

The next few hours passed by too quickly. Naruto grilled meat and tofu out on the deck with his father, pointedly avoiding Sakura as she mingled.

"Kakashi! I'm so glad you could make it!" Sakura smiled at the police chief as he passed through the door.

"Sakura," He nodded in greeting. "It is always good to see you."

"Did you bring Iruka?"

"I brought more than Iruka, if that is still alright with you."

Just as he finished, Iruka came up behind him carrying a grumpy-looking pug in a dark blue sweater. "Hello, Sakura! Happy housewarming."

"Hey Iruka! Hi Pakkun!" Sakura reached out and Iruka gladly handed him over.

"Ahh, I'm so glad you brought him. You know how much I love this little guy, don't I? Don't I?" The pug's face didn't change at all, but he offered her a lick and wiggled his tail. She nuzzled the top of his head as he tolerated her attention while his owners took off their light summer jackets.

"This is a nice place, Sakura." Iruka commented. "Is it pet friendly?"

"Oh yeah, I see people walking their dogs all the time."

"Ahh… How much would it put you out to ask a favor, then?" Iruka asked, scratching the bridge of his nose in a show of slight discomfort.

Sakura looked up at him. "Not at all, what's up?"

"I have some vacation time coming up, and we were looking at doing some traveling. Would you want to pet sit for us?" Kakashi asked.

"No way! I'd love to puppy-sit! Where are you guys going?"

They chatted over travel plans and dates until Iruka started to feel guilty for dominating her time. Sakura wished he wouldn't, Iruka was always such a giving person and she delighted in returning that to him. He had been one of her professors during the time she was getting her masters in clinical social work, and had met his partner Kakashi completely separately through Sasuke. She adored Pakkun, though, and her eagerness to help was genuine.

Thinking of Sasuke, Sakura looked around until she found him, still locked in an intense conversation with Naruto on one end of the kitchen. She glanced over to see Kushina obviously trying to cajole her husband into placing bets on when the two would hook up. Kushina was promptly shushed as Tsunade approached them and Sakura had to smother a laugh. It was too bad Itachi had been called into work, he would have loved to see this. She couldn't help the wicked grin that spread across her face as she pulled out her phone and shot off a text.

 _Itachi Uchiha 9:56pm_

 _Looks like our boys are making headway. Thought you'd like to know, sorry you're missing it!_

Sakura looked up from her phone as someone new walked through the front door. She felt a smile break out on her face as she locked eyes with Ino.

She was dressed in a pair of high waisted, cream colored pants with dark blue button down and brown belt. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail and she looked..amazing.

Ino walked through the throng of people and wrapped Sakura in a hug. Ino squeezed her and Sakura felt her cheeks heat at the attention.

"Sakura! It's so good to see you outside of work. This place is beautiful."

"Thank you!" Sakura pulled away, feeling Ino's hand still resting on her arm.

"Can you give me a tour?"

Sakura's smile grew. "Of course."

She took Ino through the apartment and away from the party. They caught up as they walked, briefly showing Naruto's bedroom and their office before lingering at the door to her bedroom.

Sakura viewed herself as a fairly confident person. However, her prowess was nothing compared to Ino's. Having analyzed this with Naruto in the past, they had come to agree that part of it was a necessity for her job. An error with a critical patient could cost them their life, and beyond that she had to be the professional in a lab coat; assertive enough to convince her patients they should listen to her in the first place ("You know," Naruto had slurred over his wine, "It's just not easy bein' a sexy blonde."). And yeah...Ino was damn sexy. She knew it, knew how to use it, and could leave people quaking. Yet, as Sakura had been exposed to many times, Ino had a kind and tender heart. She could put a grown man in his place, then go straight into the next room and comfort a crying child. That combination, it seemed, was lethal to Sakura's cognition.

"I love the colors you have in here." Ino said, leaning casually on Sakura's bedroom door frame. "You have good taste."

"Thanks," Sakura said, ignoring the self consciousness she felt creeping in on her. She was an adult, damnit.

"That looks comfortable," Ino gestured at her bed.

"It is," Sakura replied, trying to sound suave instead of nervous. Although Sakura had no problem reading her client's emotions at work, she was hopelessly lost trying to discern between Ino's natural flirtatiousness and actual interest.

Ino looked her in the eye, a coy smile playing on her lips. "I bet."

Sakura met Ino's gaze, feeling the intensity of it. She unconsciously bit at her lip to stop herself from doing or saying something stupid, drawing Ino's attention to her mouth.

"Well," She drawled, "As much as I would love to keep you all to myself tonight, I should let you get back to the party."

That..had to be interest, right? Maybe if she brought her around a few of her friends, they could figure it out. Just, not Tsunade. That woman had enough ideas in her head about Sakura as it was.

"Have you met Iruka or Kakashi yet?"

Ino crossed her arms against her chest. "Not yet. I'd love to."

Sakura motioned for Ino to follow her, and as she pushed off the wall, Ino lightly bumped her shoulder against Sakura's. She looked up at Ino curiously, realizing for the first time that the other woman was slightly taller. Ino just raised an eyebrow, coy smile firmly in place.

God, she wanted to kiss her.

"Come on," She said instead, tugging at Ino's elbow and ignoring the tingling in her hand.

As Sakura was leading her over to where Kakashi was talking with Gai, she was stopped by an arm on her shoulder.

"Sakura!"

It was Tsunade. Tsunade, whose eyes immediately flicked to the contact between the two women. Instinctively, Sakura dropped it and made to distract.

"What's up?"

"Come settle something between me and my godson."

Sakura tossed a shrug over her shoulder to Ino as she was dragged away by the busty older woman. Ino just followed them into the kitchen, where Naruto was standing with his arms crossed.

"What is it, baa-chan?"

Tsunade put her hands on her hips, drawing up to her full height. "Well, brat, after you informed me that your neighbors have moved out, I wanted to have a talk with you and Sakura."

Sakura smirked; she had a feeling she knew where this was heading.

"Yes, Tsunade?" She pushed, feigning innocence.

"How would you two feel about me putting in an application for the unit above you?"

Naruto looked surprised. "What? Really?"

"You know I've been looking to move."

Naruto looked over at Sakura, who just nodded her assent. "Uh, sure! I'd be okay with that."

Tsunade put an arm around Naruto, squeezing affectionately. "Good choice, kid. It will be nice to have you closer when you are home."

Naruto grinned, lifting his beer to his lips. "Just don't bother us when you fall down drunk Friday nights."

* * *

It was late.

Just like the other night, Sakura found herself walking through the hallway of her apartment. This time, instead of feeling awkward and intrusive to the space, she felt scared. Her breaths were shallow and shaky, and she quickly realized why:

Something was walking with her.

When she tried to turn her head to look, terror held it straight. Whatever was behind her pressed against her skin, sticking icy cold to her, holding her still. Sakura began to tremble. It fit to her body like a clammy second skin, pushing its breath against the back of her neck in freezing puffs.

Sakura shut her eyes against the feeling, words spilling from her lips.

" _What do you want?"_

She held herself tight in anticipation for the response. It couldn't have prepared her for the sensation of whatever it was gliding through her body. It made her muscles spasm from head to toe, like an electric shock.

And then, standing before her was a figure. It's edges blurred and shuddered in and out of her dream world before violently coming into focus all at once.

It was a girl. Just a young girl, maybe sixteen. She had that hair, that long, blood red hair and it matched her eyes, eyes that were made even bigger by red glasses.

The girl's body seemed to glitch in parts; the space around sections of her body would jump, flashing images of rot and decay before twitching back to the creamy pale flesh.

She was silent.

Sakura felt terror like she had never experienced before crashing through her body. Genuine, life-in-danger panic rushed through her veins as the young woman opened her mouth.

" _I want you to_ _ **SUFFER**_ _!"_

On the last word, her jaw seemed to unhinge, falling away as she lunged at Sakura. Sakura screamed, falling backward and raising her arms defensively.

"Sakura!"

She opened her eyes to Naruto's worried face once more, close to hers in the darkness. Sakura could feel herself panting, the fear still pumping through her. She lowered her hands and tried to calm her breathing with the realization that she was safe.

"Jesus, Sakura. Again? Are you going to be okay?"

She pulled up her covers around her shoulders as the cold forced shivers against her sweat slicked skin.

"Yeah, I… I don't know what's going on. I've never had dreams like this before. It was..terrifying."

He moved to sit on her bed, clicking the bedside lamp to life before he did so. "Do you remember it?"

She blinked, but the harder she tried to recall the details of the dream, the more scarce they became. Finally, Sakura just shook her head. "I don't remember. I think I was here..and something was attacking me. But I don't remember what it was."

Naruto ran a hand through his hair. Sakura noticed just how tired he looked. She reached out and touched his shoulder.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I woke you up. You really don't need to be worried about me. This is just..some weird part of moving, I think."

Naruto didn't look convinced. "Are you going to be okay when I leave?"

Her head turned sharply from where she had been looking out her window into the night, trying to gauge the hour. Naruto had never asked her that before, not in all their years together. "Of course, of course I'm fine. This is just..this is nothing."

He frowned at her. She could tell her didn't believe her, but with that start of fire season he didn't have many other options.

"Okay..but you need sleep. Can you get something to help? Maybe from someone at the hospital?"

Sakura bit at her lip. She couldn't explain why she felt defensive. She had an urge to argue, although she knew full well he was right. Finally, Sakura nodded.

She rubbed at her eyes and took her phone off the nightstand to check the time. It was 2am, but the notification on the screen made her pulse quicken once more.

"Oh my god."

"What?" Naruto's ton was sharp with concern, but his face softened when he registered the excitement on her face.

"I got a text from Ino."

"Really? What's it say?" Naruto scooted over to her on the bed, attempting to read over her shoulder.

Sakura couldn't stop the blush the spread across her face as she read.

 _Message 1_

 _Ino Y 11:50pm_

 _Hey, I just wanted to tell you I had a great night. Thanks for inviting me._

 _Message 2_

 _Ino Y 11:54pm_

 _You were pretty cute talking about that medical trivia show. If I bought you some coffee next week, could you tell me more about it?_

"Daaaamn, dude."

"What?" Sakura looked up from her phone, trying to suppress the dopey grin that was plastered on her face.

"You're so gonna tap that."

"Don't be gross." She punched his arm. She added, more quietly. "God I hope so."

 _Ino Y 2:34am_

 _I'd love to. Where & when?_

"Wait!" Naruto tried to take the phone out of her hands.

"What? Why?"

"Because it's 2am! You can't text her back at 2 in the morning."

Sakura looked down at her phone.

 _Message sent._

" _Fuck_!"


	4. Part III

3 Months Earlier

* * *

Thursday, July 21st

5:50pm

It was with tremendous relief that Sakura signed out of work that day. She waved goodbye to everyone in the office, ignoring the sympathetic look the receptionist shot her.

"Get some sleep!"

Sakura smiled at him, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

She got into her car and allowed herself to slump over onto the steering wheel. It had been an absolute week from hell: her caseload was doubled, due to a half dozen of her cases being tied up in bureaucratic courtroom bullshit. At least she had managed to find temporary housing for everyone that needed it, and that was a big win. Not knowing where a client would be sleeping, afraid they would be hurt on the streets, was one of the worst anxieties she'd experienced on the job.

Sakura took in a deep breath, distancing herself from the intensity of the day's work, and started her car. She felt exhausted, having pulled double time all week to get Friday off. She wanted to actually get some sleep before she had another date with Ino.

They had continued seeing each other after their coffee date, going to a movie and several dinners together. At the end of their last date, Sakura had kissed Ino goodbye in her car. Just thinking about it sent a thrill through her. They had ended the night long before she wanted to because Ino was called into work, and Sakura was left craving more.

Mind blissfully taken away from work, Sakura pulled into the parking lot of the Trader Joe's by her work and found a spot. In the store, she bought a cheap bottle of wine for her and Naruto to share that evening, and a more expensive bottle to share with Ino, should she come home with her tomorrow night. She also grabbed some aged gouda and a pint of strawberry ice cream as a reward for surviving the week.

She had crushed it at work, despite the many challenges thrown her way and the nightmares that had been keeping her awake. Tonight, she was going to take one of the pills Tsunade had prescribed and actually get a good night's sleep.

Sakura pulled into the parking spot, next to Naruto's jeep. Shutting off the engine and hopping out of the car, movement from the front window caught her eye. A silhouette stood in the corner of the window, holding part of the curtains back. Thinking it to be Naruto, she set her purse down on the seat and waved at him. He drew away quickly from the window. Sakura expected to see him open the door to help her with her bags, but as she got closer to the door she noticed the timing was off. He still wasn't opening the door. Maybe he had Sasuke over and he was running to tell him to cover up. She would beat them bloody if they did the nasty on her new couch (they had hardly been dating as long as she and Ino, yet Sakura had already caught them fooling around twice).

As she passed through their parking lot, however, she couldn't spot Sasuke's car.

She frowned in consideration of what he could be doing.

 _Maybe he's trying to scare me?_

Sakura smirked. As quietly as she could, she climbed the steps to the door and slid the key silently into the lock. Slowly, to avoid the creaking, she turned the knob. Once she knew it was unlocked, she flung the door open and shouted into the apartment.

"HA!"

Her grin dropped when there was no shout of surprise from Naruto. The living room was empty.

"Naruto?" She called. There was no answer. "Pakkun?"

The pug's bed, which had been there for two days, was unoccupied, and she couldn't hear the sound of his little claws on the kitchen tiles.

She put her work bag down but didn't remove her shoes as she took a few steps deeper in the apartment.

"Pakkun, here boy!" She called, hearing no movement.

The silence became eerie as the thought crossed her mind that...perhaps that shadow was not Naruto.

"Naruto, if you're trying to scare me it's worked already," She shouted. "Come out, now or there's gonna be blood."

There was a creak from on of the bedroom floorboards, but Naruto didn't emerge. Beginning to panic, she quickly scanned the living room in search of a weapon. Their tool bag was sitting, open, by the front door from when they had helped Tsunade put up shelving a few nights prior. She took the large hammer out and held it firmly in her right hand, ready to strike.

Sakura had been practicing Judo since she was a child, but she wasn't stupid. She pulled her phone out and dialed 911 with her left hand, thumb hovering over the 'send' button. She made her way slowly down the apartment hallway, body tense with anticipation, eyes trained for any sound or visual of an intruder.

There! Sakura saw movement from just inside Naruto's bedroom.

Sakura smashed the hammer against the intruder, hearing a horrendous crash, but no wounded scream. The sound of shattering glass startled her so much that she dropped her phone and let go of the hammer, where it stuck firmly in place

"Oh, shit!"

It had been a mirror.

She smashed a mirror, and knocked a hole in Naruto's wall.

"SHIT! Oh fuck, I did _not_ just do that!"

Sakura heard the front door opening behind her, and hurried to the end of the hall to find Naruto setting grocery bags down as Sasuke entered behind him, carrying a the forever grumpy looking Pakkun.

"Sakura? Are you okay?"

Her face must have betrayed her, because Sasuke immediately put the dog down and made to come closer.

"Wait! Don't let Pakkun come down the hall!" She nearly tripped over her own feet in her panic to get herself away from the bedrooms and stop the dog from cutting his feet, or worse, finding an intruder. Pakkun busied himself with snuffling at her shoes.

"What the hell, Sakura?"

"Naruto, I think there might be someone in the apartment! When I pulled up I saw a man standing at the window and I thought it was you but then you weren't home and…" She trailed off, not wanting to follow the thought. "I broke your mirror, I thought it was them."

Sasuke stepped forward, his expression serious. "Was your front door locked?"

"Yes."

"Have you checked the back door?"

She shook her head, trying not to feel frantic.

"Did you call the police?"

"No, I thought it was just Naruto."

"Jesus, Sakura!" Naruto shouted, "Why would you not call the police! Or ME!"

Angry, Sakura raised her voice back at him. "I had 911 dialed! I wasn't going to call unless I was sure!"

Sasuke put a hand on Naruto's shoulder and said firmly, "Yelling isn't going to help right now."

Naruto looked unhappy, but he didn't continue the argument. Pakkun let out a soft whine at the raised voices, pawing at Sakura's pant leg. She picked him up and smoothed a hand through his fur, holding him close.

Sasuke removed a taser from his back pocket and lowered his voice. "I'm going to search the house."

"Sasuke, I don't think-" Naruto protested before he was interrupted.

"Naruto, it's alright."

With that, he turned and moved silently down the hall. They listened in tense quiet as he entered each bedroom, the office and bathroom sequentially, opening and closing closet doors. Finally, he emerged again, checking the kitchen before trying the lock on the back sliding door.

"It's locked, so are all your windows. No one is here."

Sakura moved to the couch and sank down, suddenly feeling exhausted. She shook her head. "I _swear_ I saw someone."

"Someone in the mirror? Because you did a number on it. And the wall."

Naruto crouched down beside her, and Pakkun wiggled off her lap to snort at him. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. Are you...okay?"

She shook her head again in disbelief. "How could I have seen someone?"

"Naruto tells me you haven't been sleeping."

"Sasuke!" Naruto snapped. "You can't just-"

Sakura put a hand on his arm to stop him. "Naruto..it's okay. I mean, he's right. I thought I was getting better, though. I thought...I thought if I just made it through this week, I'd be okay."

There was a small moment of silence before Sasuke asked, "How often have you been telling yourself that?"

"I…yeah. Yeah I have. Shit." Sakura scrubbed her hands over her face. Pakkun moved away from Naruto to come sit beside her.

Sasuke turned to Naruto. "Hallucinations can be a side effect of not sleeping."

"Sasuke, I've worked 16 hour days six days a week for months without hallucinating."

Naruto tapped his chin. "But you have always had weird sleep stuff, at least as long as I've known you."

Sakura opened her mouth, but found herself closing it again when words escaped her. She shook her head, feeling disappointed in herself.

"Let's just...go clean it up."

She picked Pakkun back up, closing him in the bathroom until they could make sure his paws were safe.

When she turned around, Naruto was inspecting the hole she'd made in his bedroom wall as Sasuke grabbed a trash can. "Holy shit Sakura, you really did some damage."

She grimaced. "I'm sorry, Naruto."

"I know it's seven years bad luck when you break a mirror, but what's the punishment for knocking a hole in your roommates wall?" He asked jokingly, nudging an unamused Sasuke in the ribs with an elbow.

Sakura lightly punched his arm and he batted her away playfully. "Shut up, Naruto. I'll fix it."

Opening up the closet, she handed him the vacuum and went to get the broom and dustpan to pick up the bigger chunks.

But when Sakura returned to the mess in the bedroom, she realized her phone wasn't among the rubble.

"Sasuke, did you see my phone?"

"No, I thought you said you had it with you."

She searched around the broken shards of glass, but didn't find it. "Yeah, I did, but I dropped it when I broke the mirror."

"That's weird," Naruto joined. "I don't see it anywhere."

"Neither do I...maybe I kicked it?"

But a search of the hallway didn't reveal anything more.

Naruto shrugged. "I'll just call it."

He pulled out his phone and dialed, waiting. But the sound didn't come from anywhere near where they stood; instead, the music came from Sakura's bedroom. With trepidation she couldn't explain, Sakura crossed the hall into her bedroom and, to her shock, found that her phone was laying on her pillow. It lay in precisely the same spot she found her knife, the night of the party.

It chirped and vibrated with eerie cheerfulness in the quiet of her bedroom.

"What's it doing in here?"

She jumped at the sound of Naruto's voice over her shoulder. She felt sick. "I don't know..I don't know how it could have gotten there."

Sasuke came to join them in the doorway, but stopped dead when he realized what they were all staring at. The sudden jerk in his motion caused Sakura to look over at him, only to see him frowning.

"Sasuke?"

"Your phone. It wasn't there when I looked in here."

"What? Are you serious?" Naruto's voice was incredulous, displeasure evident.

Sasuke nodded, his frown turning into a glare. He entered the room, checking the dowel on her bedroom window again. Then he opened her closet, moving her shirts and dresses around before shutting it again. He even crouched down and looked under the bed.

"Naruto… I do not have a good explanation for how this happened."

Naruto laughed nervously. "I told you, we have a ghost!"

"That's not funny!" Sakura suddenly shouted, surprising everyone in the room. She covered her mouth with a hand. "I'm sorry… I don't know why I did that."

The room stayed in awkward silence before, unexpectedly, Sasuke came to stand by Sakura. "Tensions are high. Please, go sit in the living room with Pakkun. Naruto and I can take care of this."

She wanted to argue, but his tone was firm and she didn't really have the strength to fight it. She nodded, taking Pakkun out of the bathroom and going to sit on the couch. He was surprisingly compliant, whining softly until she scratched at his belly and kissed the top of his wrinkly head.

Sakura held him on her lap, mind blank, and listened to the muffled sound of Naruto and Sasuke's hushed voices in the bedroom.

When they were finished, they came out into the living room. She could tell they had been discussing something more than how to fix the damage.

"What is it?" She prompted, wearily.

"We've been texting with Tsunade."

She breathed in deeply, closing her eyes and letting her head fall back against the couch. "Yeah? What's she say?"

"She agrees with Sasuke. She wants you to take, uh, hold on," Naruto fished his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through the texts from his godmother. "Hydroxyzine, instead of the, uh, Amitriptyline that she prescribed you. She said it'll help more with your anxiety."

"Great," Sakura groaned sarcastically.

"She said she's got some in her apartment, so I'm gonna go get it for you. I'll be right back."

Naruto stood awkwardly in the middle of the living room for a moment or two, waiting for any objection. When there was none, he left quietly.

Sasuke and Sakura listened to his footsteps on the stairs, and the creaking of the ceiling above them as he tramped through Tsunade's apartment.

"Sakura."

She finally opened her eyes again, lifting her head to look at him.

He came to sit beside her on the couch. "I don't believe in ghosts."

She snorted. "Yeah, me neither."

He reached over, ruffling her hair. His big hand was somewhat clumsy, but she understood his intent and appreciated the rare show of affection.

"Naruto didn't mention this," Sasuke told her, "But he asked Tsunade to stick around this weekend since we have a small trip planned. You won't be alone."

She nodded, frustrated at herself for causing the situation and feeling begrudgingly grateful they were trying to take care of her in his way.

"Thanks."

Sasuke nodded. "Naruto and I will be here tonight. Just try to rest."

When Naruto came back downstairs, they opened the back door to let in the fresh, warm air and set Sakura up on the couch with a light blanket to doze while the boys packed for their trip.

* * *

Friday, July 22nd

4:00pm

Sakura stood at the sink, alone in the house and started on washing dishes. It wasn't unusual for them to pile up during her work week, even when Naruto was home. She felt bad for the night before, so the cleaning may have been somewhat guilt-motivated. Sasuke and Naruto had left earlier in the morning, taking Pakkun with them on their weekend trip to the beach. She had time before they would be back, but she needed to feel productive.

A breeze floated in through the open glass door, carrying the smells of cut grass and hot pavement, and for a moment she felt glad to have some time to herself.

She had done about half of them when her nose started to tickle. Her eyes watered, and she sneezed violently.

" _Bless you._ "

Sakura sniffled and returned to the dishes. The response had seemed so natural, so unobtrusive that it was a minute before the shock hit her. She thought she was alone in the apartment.

Whoever she had seen last night; he was still here.

Panic screaming through her chest, she grabbed the largest knife and whirled around fast, smacking her lower back against the counter.

"Who the fuck just said that!"

Her voice rang through the kitchen, hollow and echoing.

She waited several ragged breaths before shouting again. "WHO THE FUCK SAID THAT!"

Silence. In two big steps she was out of the kitchen, holding the knife in a white knuckled grip.

"Sakura?"

Her head snapped around to where the familiar voice came through the open patio door.

"Sakura, are you alright?"

It was Tsunade, calling down from her deck.

"Tsunade!" She wanted to cry with relief. "Did you hear someone just now?"

There was a pause. "Sakura, I only heard you. Are you okay?"

Sakura felt her jaw tighten and cramp. "Can you come down here?" She quietly added, "Please..."

Whether or not she heard the soft plea, Tsunade swiftly moved from one end of the apartment to the other and within seconds Sakura heard footfalls on the stairs. Vigilantly, she watched the hall, waiting for someone to emerge.

Tsunade threw open the door and stepped inside, her expression serious. Her eyes locked on the knife in Sakura's hand. "Sakura, what happened?"

"Somebody's in here, I heard them talk! I saw someone in here last night and they must still be here!"

"Sakura." Tsunade's voice was gentle, but firm as she crossed the apartment toward Sakura. "Give me the knife." When Sakura didn't move, she held out her hand. "You can trust me, kid. You don't want to go down this road."

Sakura handed over the knife when Tsunade put her hand gently over Sakura's. Armed, Tsunade opened both the closet doors and the office door. She side stepped into the bathroom to pull the shower curtain, revealing an empty tub.

She swiftly left the bathroom and entered each bedroom, and Sakura waited in the hallway, fists balled and ready to fight whoever was tormenting her.

She heard Tsunade open the closet In her bedroom, and the creaking floor as she moved around, just as Sasuke had done the night before. Finally, she returned to Sakura. "There is no one here, baby."

She set the knife on the table, and looked Sakura in the eye.

"No," Sakura started shaking her head, refusing. "No, I heard someone. I sneezed, and they said 'Bless You'. Come on, Tsunade, I'm not crazy!"

Tsunade gave her an even look, measuring the traumatized person before her. After a long moment, she spoke. "Could it have been someone walking past...?"

Sakura wanted to cry. "I...there's just...so much is going on. I thought I was okay! I thought it was getting better!"

Tsunade sighed heavily. "I know, baby. Look, have a seat and I'll make us some tea."

Sakura nodded, sinking into a chair at the table. She folded her arms and lowered her head onto them, closing her eyes and listening to Tsunade better acquaint herself with their kitchen.

After a few minutes, a mug of steaming herbal tea was placed in front of her.

"Drink up."

Sakura lifted her head, and Tsunade took in the tired, puffy eyes of one of her brightest colleagues and seeing the child she had loved as family for so many years.

"I'm starting to get worried about you."

Sakura bit at her lip, not saying anything. She had a feeling that she knew where this conversation was heading.

"I know work has been killing you; I looked at your caseload. And having personally evaluated two of your clients," Tsunade reached out, touching one of Sakura's hands that was cupped around her tea, "I understand the emotional toll they are taking on you.

"While they're sympathetic, everyone in your office knows that you haven't been sleeping well. Moving is stressful, we get that. But last night I get a text that you put a hole through a wall, and today you're convinced someone is talking to you. Something's gotta give, Sakura."

She felt tears welling in her eyes. "I...I thought I had it together. I thought that if I just made it through till today, I could start on the medication you have me and everything would go back to normal."

Tsunade patted her hand before withdrawing it. "I'm going to protect you, kid. As your family as well as a colleague. And right now, I think that protecting you, and protecting your clients, means authorizing a leave of absence."

"Fuck," Sakura swore, head falling into her hands. "Tsunade, I can't just _leave_. What about all of my clients?"

"I have already been in touch with Shizune and your supervisor about covering them. She's started delegating them out to some of our best associates."

Sakura groaned, feeling shame root her to the floor.

Tsunade moved to sit beside her and rubbed a hand along Sakura's back in soothing circles. "It's going to be okay, kid. This isn't forever."

Tsunade continued touching her gently in the silence until Sakura finally lifted her head.

"What do you have planned tonight, sweetheart? I'll be around all weekend. Can I take you out, get your mind off of things?"

Sakura massaged her brow. "Actually, I have a date tonight. Maybe..maybe I should cancel."

Tsunade actually laughed. "That is about the _last_ thing you should do! Tell me, who is this date with and where are you going?"

"Uh… It was with...Ino, and we were going to check out the night market downtown."

"Ha!" Tsunade slapped the table, startling Sakura. "I had money on you two getting together before Halloween."

Sakura blinked at her a few times before the absurdity of the statement made her laugh.

"There, kid," Tsunade said in a surprisingly soft voice. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

* * *

Sakura had just finished applying mascara when there was a knock on her door. When she opened it, Ino was standing on her porch in a pale yellow dress that flowed around her thighs and dipped low in the front.

"Hey you," She greeted.

"Hey," Sakura smiled, leaning in and kissing her cheek.

"Ready?"

"Yeah, just let me grab my bag."

Sakura turned to pick up her tote, which held, among other things, a clean pair of underwear and her sleeping meds, just in case she didn't make it back to her apartment.

Tsunade told her to embrace it, so she would.

She got into Ino's mazda, and they started towards downtown.

"How was your day? Did you have to go into work?" Ino asked, turning the radio down.

Sakura couldn't resist a snort. "No, I had the day off."

"Hm, why am I detecting that might not be a good thing?"

She sighed. "Do you really want to know? Because I haven't seen you in almost a week and I don't want to be a buzzkill. I can give you a feel-good answer."

"If you want to talk about it, I'm all ears."

Sakura looked out the window. "Do you remember me telling you I haven't been sleeping?"

"Yeah, you didn't go into too much detail, but I remember you mentioning it."

"Well, I guess it's gotten bad enough that I've been put on a leave of absence. Few hours ago."

"Oh, damn honey!" Ino looked over at Sakura for a moment with concern before refocusing on the road. "Did you make a mistake at work or something? If it helps, I didn't hear anything about it."

"No, thank god. Tsunade pulled me out of work before I could do that. It was really weird, I guess… I guess I hallucinated from lack of sleep yesterday. It was a trick of the eye, really, but Tsunade is...well I guess I don't have to explain her to you."

Ino laughed. "No shit, it's bad enough working with her. I can't imagine how protective she gets when you're family."

Sakura snickered. "She comes from a good place. I just hate when she's right."

Ino gave her a calculating look. "You think she's right?"

"Isn't she always?"

Ino laughed, patting her knee. "True enough. Let's get your vacation started! I'll take good care of you tonight."

The market was packed when they got there at eight.

"Have you eaten yet?" Ino asked as they approached the entrance.

"Not yet, but I'm not too hungry."

"Me neither. Do you want to take a lap, then get some food?"

"Sounds good." Sakura smiled at her.

The event was held in an enormous warehouse. The pipes and lights hanging from the ceiling were partially obscured by huge, ornate looking drapes. Several of the old loading bays were open on the wall opposite the entrance, leading out to a covered section of street where she could hear music and see more vendors. Inside, tables formed a maze of wares along the concrete floor of the 'venue'. The big space felt alive with light and a din of conversation, creating a cozy and welcoming atmosphere.

It was likely past capacity with people, which Sakura didn't mind, as it lead Ino to frequently grasp her hand or arm to keep them together. There was an incredible range of diversity in the products out; everything from handcrafted furniture, to bacon infused jams, to etsy-esque fan posters of all nerdy manner.

As they explored, Sakura couldn't help but sneak glances at Ino. Her face was so expressive. She was so beautiful, Sakura couldn't believe how lucky she was to be with her.

Ino caught her staring. She looked down at Sakura, "What is it?"

"Just thinking about how lucky I am to be here with you."

It was out of her mouth before she considered how corny it sounded, but it didn't seem to lose her any points with the other woman. Ino wrapped an arm around her, leaning into to speak into her ear.

"I can't even tell you what you're doing to me right now."

Sakura grinned, leaning into her. "I like the sound of that. How 'bout something to eat, then we'll get out of here?"

Ino gave her a squeeze. "As you wish."

The meal vendors were outside under the canopies, near a live flamenco band. They bought a couple of creations from one of the food carts and sat to watch the group of people that had begun dancing in front of the musicians.

"I love coming downtown when it's not work related," Sakura sighed. "It really feels like I only get to see the bad side of this town, you know?"

Ino gave a harsh laugh. "You're telling me. It's been really great going out with you like this. Takes my mind off of the things that don't matter."

Sakura smiled, knocking her cup of blue moon against Ino's cider. "Cheers to that."

They enjoyed the dancers, particularly a couple who were clearly professionals, until they were finished. Sakura had seen something at the cartoonist booth that she thought Naruto might like, so they agreed to go one more lap before leaving.

"Hey, look at that," Ino chuckled, pointing over at a booth with a small crowd.

There were a handful of fortune tellers at the table, dressed in willowy, pagan garb. One was doing a palm reading while another was working with tarot cards.

"Oh, lord," Sakura chuckled.

But Ino just smiled down at her. "What, you don't want to get your future, or your fortune?"

Sakura read something sultry in her expression. "Why, is there anything I should be looking forward tor?"

Ino leaned close to her, dipping her tone to speak gently into her ear over the din. "Depends...are you going to sleep in your bed, or mine tonight?"

Sakura sucked in a deep breath, feeling a tingle all the way down her spine. Ino withdrew, and Sakura was trying to think of something witty to say when suddenly someone grabbed her arm.

"Girl!"

"Whoa!" She jumped, wrenching her arm away from the stranger. She realized it was the woman she had seen just moments ago giving a palm reading. Her eyes were wide and afraid.

"What's your problem?" Ino demanded, moving to get partially in between the two women.

"No, no, please!" The woman held up her hands, supplicating. "Please listen to me!"

Ino glared at the stranger, before looking over to Sakura. "You want me to get you out of here?"

Unfortunately, Sakura couldn't fight her instinct to try and offer assistance. She shook her head at Ino and turned to the stranger. "Do you need help? Are you okay?"

The woman frantically looked between the two of them. "You," She pointed at Sakura. "Y-you're in danger."

"Is that a threat?" Ino's voice was venomous.

"Ino, it's okay." Sakura put a hand on her shoulder in part for reassurance, in part to hold her back. "What do you mean, I'm in danger?"

"Somewhere you spend a lot of time, it has exposed you to something. Something dark, and...and it wants something from you."

Sakura felt a sinking sensation in her stomach. She shook her head, not understanding. "What..uh, what do you mean?"

The woman's pale face was grave. "You've let a monster into your life, and it isn't going to leave you until it gets what it wants."

She bit her lip, feeling conflicted. This had to be a coincidence. The fact that she was even considering taking this stranger seriously was a testament to how out of it she really was. "Okay..look, you seem really scared right now. I want to give you something, is that okay? It could help."

The stranger blinked, as though she wasn't expecting that response. "What?"

"Here," Sakura fished around in her bag until she found her wallet. She pulled out the business card of one of her colleagues. "This is the card for a friend of mine in county mental health services. They might be able to ease your mind, okay?"

She seemed to realize what Sakura was doing, and tried to push the card back. "No, I'm trying to warn you that-"

Sakura nodded, "I know, but I'm alright. I'm perfectly safe. Maybe just give them a call? Take care of yourself."

She turned to go, linking her arm with a frowning Ino. They had made it just a few steps away before the stranger shouted after them.

"Stop!"

Sakura grimaced before she schooled her features to turn around. The woman's voice was pleading. She looked back to see her standing with a hand to her forehead, like she was trying to understand something.

"Come on, Ino. We should-"

The woman interrupted her before she could finish her escape. "You've been having nightmares, right?"

Sakura froze.

"Sakura? Are you okay?"

"Um..I need to leave. Let's go."

Ino shot a glare over her shoulder. "Say no more."

As they began to weave back through the crowd, Sakura heard one final message.

"It's name is _Karin_! You need help! You're not _safe_!"

"Jesus, that chick doesn't quit." Ino said, glancing over at Sakura. Not liking the look on her face, she pulled them into one of the women's restrooms.

Sakura felt minutely better away from the crowd. She blinked distractedly at Ino, "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Ino sat on the the waiting bench, patting the area beside her for Sakura to join her. "So. Are you gonna tell me what's wrong?"

Sakura felt a chuckle escape at Ino's direct line of questioning. "It's stupid, honestly."

"Mmm, if it's enough to make you make that face, I don't think it's going to be stupid."

Sakura took a deep breath. "It is, promise. I...I know it's a coincidence, but I _have_ been having nightmares. That's why I haven't been sleeping. And Naruto's been joking about our place being haunted. And...I'm starting to think it might be."

Ino looked at her with a serious expression. "What have you been dreaming about?"

She swallowed. "Actually, a girl. A monster. It's both, somehow?"

"Ahh. Then what she said probably freaked you out, huh?"

"Yeah, I mean..how did she know I've been having nightmares?"

Ino bit back a smile. "Okay honey, don't take this the wrong way."

"What?"

Her frown was washed away as the back of Ino's soft, warm hand slid down her cheek. "You are beautiful, Sakura. But even beautiful can't hide a lack of sleep. You have tired eyes, girl."

Sakura breathed out another small laugh. She nodded, flustered at the compliment. "You're right, I know. It was stupid of me to even consider it. I shouldn't have talked to her."

"Oh no," Ino shook her head, eyes light. "You did great. I was ready to clock her for grabbing you like that. But you handled it well. I can't believe you gave her a card!"

Sakura smiled at Ino's laughter, trying to cover how uncharacteristically shy she felt at the praise. Instead, she chose to tease. "A little possessive, are we?"

"Mmm," Ino reached out again, brushing her fingers lightly through Sakura's hair. "I've been known to get...protective of who I'm with."

"Of who you're with?" Sakura raised her eyebrows.

"Mmhmm," Ino started to lean in, her eyes flicking to Sakura's lips.

Sakura felt the air leave her lungs completely as Ino came within inches of her face. Just as they were about to kiss, the door to the bathroom swung open and a group of women walked in. The one in front had a faux hawk and a t-shirt from the Trans-Rights booth. It was obvious she knew exactly what the two girls on the bench had been about to do.

"Ahh shit, sorry guys," She apologized with a grin.

Sakura covered her eyes with a hand in embarrassment, but Ino tugged her up and towards the door. "No worries, we were just on our way out."

Ino wrapped an arm around Sakura's waist, squeezing lightly.

When the bathroom door was closed again, Sakura couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Ah, jesus. That hasn't happened since I was a teenager."

Ino pressed a quick kiss to her temple. "Glad I'm not the only one. Let's go."

"Your place?"

"My place."

* * *

The ride to Ino's home was full of innuendo and light, distracting touches. Inside, Ino filled two glasses of wine, handing one to Sakura before putting on a Spotify mix to fill the apartment.

"Nice place," Sakura said, hoping she didn't sound completely awkward. It _was_ a nice place, spacious and cozy.

"Thanks," Ino gave no indication that she detected any awkwardness. She kicked off her heels and sat on the couch, patting the cushion next to her in the same way she had done at the market.

Sakura smiled, taking off her own shoes and sitting beside her. She tucked her feet up under her, knees brushing against Ino's thigh.

Ino set her hand on Sakura's leg, fingers tracing soft patterns across her knees.

Sakura smiled, taking a sip of her wine.

"So, was that your first time to the night market?"

Ino nodded, then shrugged. "Well, it was my first night market here. I've been to the night market in China, the one that inspired this."

"Really? When did you go to China?"

"It was during my undergrad, I was part of a year long study abroad program. I did a term in China, half a year in Spain, and the final term was in Australia."

"That's a bit," Sakura paused, looking for the right word. "Random?"

Ino snorted. "Right? I think they told us it was to become 'well rounded', but I'm sure it was political."

Sakura tried to ignore the heat that Ino's touch was bringing to her stomach. "Did you like it? Would you ever go back?"

"I liked it, yeah. It was a lot of travel. I've been wanting to go back to China, after I graduate. I think it will be more fun when I'm not a broke college student."

Sakura laughed, eyes falling down to her almost empty glass. "I know how that goes. I went to boring, in-state colleges. I've always wanted to travel."

"Well…"

Sakura's head snapped up at the sultry tone Ino's voice had taken on.

Ino took Sakura's glass, setting it beside hers on the coffee table. She leaned in to Sakura's space, until her lips hovered just over her own.

"Maybe I'll have to take you with me."

Sakura closed the distance, hands going to either side of Ino's face, gently cupping her cheeks. Ino moved her lips against Sakura's, moaning softly at the touch. The sound made Sakura ache.

She wrapped her arms around Ino, pulling her onto her lap.

Ino straddled her, greedily taking her mouth again. She kissed her passionately until Sakura's hands . Ino pulled away with a husky chuckle. She tucked a bit of hair behind Sakura's ear, kissing her cheek.

"Will you stay the night with me?"

Sakura bit her lip to restrain herself from sounding over-egear. "I'd really like that."

Ino smiled, kissing her softly. "Good."

She got up, picking up the tablet that still played softly. She took Sakura's hand, leading her back into the bedroom.

Ino turned on the lamp by the bedside table, clicking down the volume on the tablet and putting it aside.

Sakura's heart was beating hard as Ino came to stand in front of her. With a push to her shoulder from Ino, Sakura sat on the edge of the bed.

Ino reached behind her back, unzipping her dress and sliding it down slowly, off her shoulders, teasing, before letting it fall to the ground. Beneath it, for the entire evening, Ino had been wearing a gorgeous, sheer balconette bra and underwear to match. Well, of course that confidence she had in daily life translated into sex.

When Ino laughed, Sakura realized she had been gawking. Ino shoved her back again so she was flat on the bed, and crawled over her.

"I've been wanting you," She whispered into Sakura's ear, before biting at her neck.

Sakura moaned. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you."

"Good," Ino said again, kissing her.

Sakura's hands roamed all over Ino's body, caressing her sides and back before squeezing her ass.

Ino started tugging at her shirt, allowing Sakura to sit up and remove it, along with her skirt. Their legs slid together, soft and smooth as they tangled their bodies together.

She felt so good, it had been so long since Sakura had been intimate with another person like this. She reached behind Ino as they kissed, undoing her bra and letting it fall to the side. Ino pushed it off the bed, doing the same to Sakura. When Sakura lay on her back in the soft light of the lamp, Ino pulled back to take in the beautiful woman beneath her.

"Wow.." She breathed. "You are...so beautiful."

Sakura pulled Ino back down to her, relishing the feeling of their bare chests together. Ino slid a leg in between Sakura's, rubbing her thigh against Sakura's crotch. Sakura gasped at the feeling and Ino smirked.

She teased her for a while, rocking back and forth until Sakura was so wet she could feel it through the underwear. She kissed her way down Sakura's body till she could take a nipple in between her lips. She swirled her tongue around the hardened nub, causing Sakura to arch in pleasure. While she was distracted, Ino slipped Sakura's underwear off as well as her own. When she slid a hand down across Sakura's exposed vulva, she was rewarded with another gasp. She traced fingers in different pattern and varying pressures across her clit, reading what made her partner tick.

It felt incredible, and soon Sakura was panting and thrusting her hips against Ino's long, skilled fingers. But just as she was close to cumming, Ino's firm, circular pressure relented. She slid down instead to play gently with Sakura's entrance, pushing a slim finger through the slick, tight heat. Sakura felt her body clench around the finger as it fucked her slowly, while Ino kissed her passionately.

"God, I was so close," Sakura panted when Ino turned her attention back to Sakura's chest.

Ino chuckled, letting go of her nipple. "I know."

She then did it again, and again; bringing Sakura right to the brink of orgasm before pulling back into a tease. It coiled tighter and tighter inside of her, when finally Ino let her finish. The orgasm surged through her body, making her muscles spasm and jerk from head to toe.

Sakura was breathing hard by the time it was finished coursing through her. She pulled into on top of her again, kissing her deeply. Their tongues slid against each other sensual for long, heady minutes before Ino disentangled herself. She kissed her way down Sakura's body, coming to rest just above her mons.

Sakura propped herself up onto her elbows, looking confusedly down at Ino.

"What are you doing? I haven't even touched you yet," Sakura asked.

"You've had a long day," Ino said, dipping low and swiping her tongue against Sakura's clit, causing her to fall back off of her elbows. "Let me take care of you. I'll get mine soon enough."

With that, Ino went to work. She knew Sakura's clit would be too sensitive to be firm with, so she used that feather soft pressure she had been using in the beginning with her fingers. She alternated between that and fucking her again, using two fingers, until Sakura was worked up enough to come again. She licked at her clit in the same firm, steady way she had worked it with her fingers, while she sought out the other woman's g-spot. It was hardly minutes before Sakura was coming again, her moans loud.

"Goddamn," She breathed against Ino's mouth when she was finished. "You feel so fucking good."

Ino moaned on top of her as Sakura glided her hand against Ino's slick vagina. She slid a finger inside her with little resistance. Ino threw back her head, grinding her hips down onto Sakura's hand.

"Fuuuck," She groaned. "That feels so good."

In one smooth motion, Sakura withdrew her hand and flipped them so that she was now on top of Ino.

"Looks like it's my turn to take care of you."

* * *

A/N: Wow, long chapter, thanks for reading! Thoughts?

I can fit in another sex scene in this fic, but it's up to you guys. Let me know if you're interested in that or if I should stick to the spooky!

Shout out to lillia on Ao3 for guessing the ghost (;

Couple things on my process! In this fic, Tsunade and Sakura are close, but in more than just a professional sense; she's watched her grow up. I feel like characters like Tsunade and Ino can be tricky to write, because they're both snarky characters with underlying sweetness. Hope I did them justice!

I also view Ino as super confident in bed, and in her body. She's always to me had that attitude of 'I'm hot and I know it'.


	5. Part IV

[WARNING! MINOR VIOLENCE AND GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF GORE IN THIS CHAPTER! NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART! References to child abuse and abduction, no sexual assault]

Wednesday, August 24th

2:00am

Sakura stood at the sink, alone in the house and started on washing dishes. It wasn't unusual for them to pile up during her work week, even when Naruto was home. She felt bad for the night before, so the cleaning may have been somewhat guilt-motivated. Sasuke and Naruto had left earlier in the morning, taking Pakkun with them on their weekend trip to the beach. She had time before they would be back, but she needed to feel productive.

A breeze floated in through the open glass door, carrying the smells of cut grass and hot pavement, and for a moment she felt glad to have some time to herself.

She had done about half of them when her nose started to tickle. Her eyes watered, and she sneezed violently.

"Bless you."

Sakura sniffed and wiped at her nose before turning around. "Thanks, these allergies are killing me."

On the other side of the counter stood a young woman, probably a few years younger than her with long, beautiful red hair. She adjusted her glasses as she spoke. "You really should be more careful."

Sakura cocked her head. "Careful? I'm just doing the-"

"Don't you know where you are?"

Sakura jumped when the girl shot forward through the counter, materializing nose to nose with Sakura.

It frightened her, but there was a safety she felt in her chest that guided her actions. She wasn't going to be hurt. This was just a child, well, a young woman. Sakura laughed nervously, and turned back to the dishes.

"You scared me, Karin."

Karin. Where had that name come from?

Sakura blinked.

Karin lingered where she stood, almost touching Sakura for a long moment before she jumped up to sit on the counter beside the drying dishes. "I'm going to start school again soon."

Sakura smiled at her again. "That's exciting, are you still in high school?"

Karin nodded, "I'll be a senior."

"Then college! Right?"

Karin tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. Her eyes were downcast and lips pressed tight together. "No...I don't think so."

Sakura put down the glass she was washing. "Why not? You don't wanna go?"

When there was no response, Sakura made her voice soft. "Don't think you can afford it?"

Karin gave her a strange look before she laughed a little. "No. No, it's not that."

Sakura didn't know what she meant, but pressed anyway. "Do you know what you would go for? What would you study if you went to college?"

Her jade eyes flicked over to Sakuras. "I want to be a social worker."

"Really? That's great, that's what I do."

"I know."

She cocked her head to the side. "You did?"

Karin looked away. "Why did you want to be a social worker?"

"I wanted to help children, too. While I was in college, I had been shopping and on the way back to the car," she paused, wrinkling her forehead with the memory. So odd, this wasn't a story she liked to talk about, or usually shared. "In the parking lot I saw a man..beating his child. He was screaming and...hitting. It was just a little boy...I was so shocked I couldn't even move. His partner, she tried to stop him but he hit her too. And when I heard her scream, I guess I realized he wasn't going to stop. I dropped everything and just ran to get between him and the kid. And I just stood there, screaming for someone to call the police. Intervening like that felt so much better than anything else I had done so far in my education. I know social work wouldn't be that dramatic or direct, but it was better than what I was doing. So I switched majors." She paused again. "What about you?"

"I wanted to be on the right side of things." She snorted. "Pretty ironic, huh?"

"Ironic? How?" Sakura regarded her. She was so young.

She reached out to touch the girl sitting beside her on the counter but her hand fell right through the knee to find purchase on the countertop.

Sakura blinked and pulled her hand back against her chest. "..what?"

She looked up at the teenager that stared down at her.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked.

" _No one._ "

Something began wriggling and crawling around index finger, beneath the glove. As Sakura looked at the pulsing yellow latex, the itching immediately spread to the rest of her digits. She yanked it off her hand with a shriek, expecting to see it covered with dozens of clawing, biting insects.

All that was revealed was a single long, red hair draped across her fingers. The veil of pleasantry between her and her intruder dropped, revealing her nightmare.

The hair plunged from her hand and feet materialized on the tile where it fell. Karin stood nearly nose-to-nose with her, but she couldn't move. The aggressive presence of the stranger she knew to be Karin consumed her. She wanted to turn and run, to get away but she was unable to control her body.

"What do you want?" She demanded, needing to regain control over something.

Karin's eyes were trained on her, yellowing around the whites. Less of a teenage girl and more of a monster, she spoke. _"You will help me."_

Her skin turned deathly pale, becoming gray and thin as her cheeks sank down to the bone. _"I want revenge."_

" _You can't get away._ " Pale skin became dry, the greenish flesh pulling away in pieces to reveal gray muscle and rotting sinew. The once full lips thinned and stretched, shrinking away from teeth and jaw bone.

" _I will torment you._ "

Sakura felt nausea sweep over her as Karin's nose, rotted out and dropped from her face entirely. She fell back against the counter as the rapidly dissolving corpse of the girl began to decompose even further, melting into a puddle of gore that was eaten up by the cracks in the floor. It left nothing but her tattered clothes and a stench unlike Sakura had ever experienced.

A scream ripped through her body, jarring her awake. She was on the cold floor of the kitchen, face down in the spot where in the dream Karin's corpse had just dissolved through the tile. She automatically shut her mouth, breathing harshly from her nose as she straddled the world between nightmare and waking horror.

- **bang bang bang** -

Sakura snapped her head up from the floor, startling at the loud sound.

"Sakura!"

- **bang bang bang** -

"Sakura! I heard screaming, let me in!"

Body moving on its own, Sakura wrenched herself from the floor. A fistful of long, red hair fell from her hand. "Tsunade!"

"Sakura you will open this door or I'm breaking it down!"

Bodily faculties shaken, she pushed herself off the floor and ran to the living room, tumbling over her ottoman and crashed into the door. She managed to twist and pull, falling backwards but swinging the it open. In the doorway where Tsunade was supposed to stand, the corpse loomed, ominous and terrible. In a vile, robotic voice it did not scream, but rumbled deep like thunder.

" _You will avenge me._

 _BRING HIM TO JUSTICE!"_

"AAAHH!"

Sakura was sitting bolt upright in bed, screaming into the emptiness of her bedroom. She thrust a shaking hand to the bedside lamp, rattling it in desperation for light. Her fingers found the switch and illuminated the room. It was empty and still, innocent to her torment.

She breathed raggedly, sweaty forehead resting in her hand. The other held tightly onto her nightshirt, feeling the well worn cloth between trembling fingers to reassure herself that she was finally awake.

That dream… It was not the first time she had it in the weeks she had been away from work. It played on loop in her brain, permeating her dreams. Sleeping beside another human seemed to be the only time it left her. After the third night in a row, she had crawled into Naruto's bed like a child in desperation for sleep. Unfortunately, tonight Naruto was gone and Ino was called in and it looked like Sakura couldn't be left alone without losing her mind.

Sakura scrubbed a hand over her face, feeling greasy from the drying sweat. She took in a deep breath, knowing that sleep was long gone. Even if she felt tired, she couldn't bring herself to close her eyes again and see that face, watching as it rotted before her.

She leaned over to her bedside table and picked up her laptop, rubbing her fingers together anxiously as it loaded. She put it down on the bed before her, unable to stop fidgeting.

Karin.

That name..that was the name she heard at the night market, weeks ago.

Sakura felt a twist of irritation as the screen loaded an automatic system update. She stood up and went through the apartment, turning on all the lights as she double checked the doors and windows to make sure the locks were all still secure. She hugged her arms tight around herself as she returned to her room, climbing onto the bed and pulling a blanket around her trembling body.

When it finally processed, Sakura went to google and searched for ' _Karin, Konoha Japan_ '. The first page of results yielded a wide range of Karin's, all alive and well and none of whom seemed to be who she was looking for. She cleared it.

' _Karin_ ', she typed again, but she paused. If Karin was a minor when she died, her information would be harder to find. She tried a few more cursory searches, wondering if she could get Sasuke to help her. Probably not, with only the first name.

She took in a deep breath, feeling as though she were stepping over some sort of boundary as she typed, ' _Karin, Konoha Japan, Murder_ '. Her finger hesitated over the return key for just a moment before its strike.

The breath she held released unintentionally with the realization that, after a few clicks, nothing was what she was looking for. Sakura leaned back in her bed, feeling a mix of relief and frustration. Without a last name, she was shit out of luck. But the name Karin kept turning over and over in her mind, dominating her thoughts as she reclined, until a dark blur from the corner of her eye caught her attention. Her head snapped to the window, where it looked as though something had quickly moved across it. She got to her feet fast and snapped the blinds shut with a sharp tug on the string.

Sakura didn't remember leaving them open, not even a little, for exactly this reason. She felt like she was going crazy; she always caught glances of things out of the corner of her eye. Sometimes they were just a blur, like the window, and sometimes they looked like something far more solid and menacing, standing just inside her periphery. She hated to admit it, but it seemed like Tsunade had done a fairly good job of anticipating her break down and removing her from work. She was sliding downhill fast, and with no idea how to slow it down. She looked over her shoulder at the laptop, sitting innocuously on the sea foam green duvet, wrinkled from all the thrashing.

Maybe she should stop. This was a dangerous edge to be walking. Sakura knew she was already becoming overtaken by whatever was happening to her...but she couldn't stop.

Sakura crossed the room, drew her laptop back onto her lap and searched for ' _Karin, Konoha Japan, Missing teen_ '.

Her eyes widened as she read the flood of articles:

' _17 year old girl mysteriously disappears in the city of Konoha_ '

' _Mother pleads for help in finding missing Konoha teen_ '

' _Konoha high school mourns missing student_ '

' _No arrest made in the abduction of Konoha teen_ '

' _Mother of missing Konoha teen remains hopeful she will return_ '

Sakura felt her heart racing as she clicked on the first article. She remembered hearing about the story, but she hadn't paid much attention to it at the time. Back in February, a high school girl went missing on the walk home. The case wasn't being worked by anyone she was close to, and while it was sad, she hadn't had time to pay it much mind.

The local news article read;

 _3/10/16_

 _8:32AM_

 _Konoha PD have confirmed that 17 year old Karin Uzumaki is missing after reportedly leaving school on Friday. Her mother, Rina* Uzumaki, called local authorities when her daughter failed to return home that evening._

 _ **UPDATE:**_ _Rina has pleaded that anyone with information regarding her daughter's disappearance to come forward. The police department of Konoha is offering a cash reward to those with information._

Her eyes flew over the words, skimming through the description of the distressed schoolmates and family members. Everything came to a halt, however, at the photo.

It was her.

Blood red hair framed the pale face that had been tormenting Sakura for months. Her black glasses and purple shirt were just as Sakura had seen earlier in her dream.

She couldn't tear her eyes away from the screen, where the teenager that had been tearing her mind apart smiled coyly at the camera. Her breaths came in raggedly, and it registered that she was hyperventilating.

Then, the girl, the monster in the photo, winked at Sakura.

Sakura screamed and hurled her computer away from her scrambling backwards on her bed to press her back against the wall. She couldn't stop the sobs the came as she felt reality slipping away from her.

She jumped at the sound of the phone ringing. She could see it was Tsunade, but she couldn't calm herself. She swiped for yes and held the phone to her ear.

"Sakura! I heard you scream, are you alright?"

Sakura couldn't catch her breath, instead just gasping into the phone. "I just- I can't- I-"

"I'm coming down right now," Tsunade told her briskly, and Sakura could hear sound coming from the apartment above hers.

Her breathing still hadn't slowed by the time Tsunade came to stand before her, and she felt light headed. Her vision was starting to tunnel as her heart beat erratically in her chest. She wondered if she was dying. She wondered if this, whatever was happening, was going to let her live.

"No no no sweetie," Tsunade was saying. "Not like this."

She put her hands on Sakura's shoulders, guiding her away from the wall. Efficiently, Tsunade pushed and pulled gently on Sakura's body until she was laying flat on her back. Tsunade leaned over her, telling Sakura to breathe with her.

"Slow down that breathing, breathe in slow with me, and out." Tsunade put a hand on Sakura's stomach, "Feel it right here. That's it."

Sakura was too overwhelmed to process anything but Tsunade's instructions, and soon her breathing evened out. Focus returned as the black around the edges of her vision faded, and she sat up slowly. Finally, she was able to see Tsunade.

Her face was expressing a level of concern that Sakura had never before seen. Her eyes were wide but stretched, like too much caffeine on too little sleep. She was wearing an old pair of scrubs, her hair wild and spilling over her chest.

Sakura could feel that she was still shaking, but she told Tsunade that she was alright.

Tsunade nodded. She ran a hand down her face in exhaustion and sighed before pulling her hair over one shoulder, tucking quickly it into a loose braid. When she was done, she straightened and looked Sakura in the eye.

"What happened this time?"

Sakura hung her head, feeling ashamed and confused. "I don't know. I think I had another hallucination."

"What did you see?"

Sakura glanced at where her laptop had been hurled, laying closed on the floor. "Well I...I think I found out who has been haunting me."

Tsunade blanched. She tried to recover, but Sakura had seen it.

"Tsunade, I-"

The older woman held up a hand. "No, no need to explain. You think you're being haunted. I don't need details."

Sakura felt her stomach drop at the tone in Tsunade's voice. She needed Tsunade to know, to understand that she _wasn't_ crazy. Something real, and terrifying was happening to her and she was desperate to have someone else take it seriously. "Please, you have to believe me. Everything that's been happening lately, it can't be all in my head! I know it can't! There's too much, it's too-"

Sakura stopped short, realizing Tsunade's face had contorted in horror.

"Tsunade? What's happening?' She asked, panic creeping into her voice.

Tsunade's chest began to rise and fall rapidly. Her nostrils flared and her mouth had fallen open, just the slightest bit.

"There's...there's someone breathing on the back of my neck."

Sakura felt tears swell and start to roll down her cheeks. "No… God, please no."

Tsunade closed her eyes, seeming to calm herself. Slowly, she moved off the bed. When she stood, she straightened her back, standing and drawing herself up to full height. Tsunade was a tall, powerful woman, and she was claiming every inch.

"Give me your hand, Sakura."

Tsunade's voice was firm and authoritative, but Sakura shook her head.

"No, I can't. I can't leave, it's not going to let me."

"Yes, you can." Tsunade commanded. "I'm going to take you, and we'll go somewhere safe."

Trembling to her core, Sakura's voice was barely above a whisper. "You..can do that?"

"If you give me your damn hand I will."

Sakura reached out and took it, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. She followed Tsunade into the living room, putting on her coat and shoes while she hummed with the anxiety that something tremendous was going to stop them. She expected the door to slam shut, or glass to break, or to feel one of those grotesque hairs again, but nothing came. Tsunade guarded her as they left, keeping her close as they walked out the door and to her car.

"Where are we going?" Sakura asked her as the climbed in.

"I'm taking you to my office."

"...why?"

Tsunade put the car in reverse and began to pull away from the complex. "I want to be somewhere I know all the ghosts."

Sakura shot one last glance over her shoulder at the apartment, still illuminated by all of the lights she left on. As she watched, a shadow flickered across the living room window pane and a second later, the entire apartment went dark.

She shuddered, hands fisting in her sweatshirt and let her head fall back against the seat.

* * *

They drove in silence all the way to the hospital, until Tsunade pulled into her parking spot.

"I don't think I want to go in," Sakura confessed.

"Why?" Tsunade asked bluntly.

She closed her eyes and and pressed her lips together. "I don't really want anyone to see me...like this. By now I'm sure everyone knows I'm on 'vacation', and I don't want to fuel any more gossip."

Tsunade smiled at her. "You're sounding more like yourself, kid. But don't worry, I know a back way in."

Tsunade led her through a side entrance in the building with a swipe of the card that was kept in her glove compartment. It opened to a seldom-used corridor which had a door that opened to a narrow, concrete staircase. They climbed to the third floor, and Tsunade ushered her the few short steps into her office.

Tsunade shut the blinds to the window and locked the door behind them, only turning on the small lamp near the desk for lighting. It's light was soft, but cozy by comparison to the fluorescent lights of the hospital hallways. Sakura sat down on the couch adjacent to the desk and stared vacantly at the bookcase across from her, mind churning. She watched as Tsunade pulled out a modern looking copy of Grey's Anatomy from the shelf, setting it on the desk. Then she went around to the other side and pulled out two clear plastic glasses from a drawer. From out of the book, Tsunade removed a bottle of whiskey, and poured them each a shot or two.

Handing one to Sakura, Tsunade came to sit beside her on the couch and took a stiff drink.

"Well, I can't say I was expecting this." Sakura admitted after another sustained silence.

Tsunade sighed. "You can blame Jiraiya for the whiskey. He used to bring a bottle in after a long day. After shifts were over, of course, and this was back when I was working the ER, instead of running it. Sometimes this was the only way I could stop thinking."

There was quiet again before Sakura finally felt she had the nerve to ask what had been nagging at her mind. "Tsunade...what did you mean by ghosts, earlier?"

There was another weary breath that escaped the blonde woman. "Whether or not ghosts are real, every hospital has them. Young patients die, old patients die, and doctors carry them through these halls for years after. I can handle the ghosts that live here."

It was Sakura's turn to drink. She tipped back her cup and swallowed a mouthful, bracing for the harsh sting of the liquor. What came instead was more bitter than burn, leaving a sweet, comforting weight of flavor on her tongue.

Tsunade was watching her, a smirking a little. "Good whiskey goes down smooth, doesn't it?"

"I don't think I want to know how much this cost," Sakura said rubbing at her temple.

"Probably not, but take as much as you'd like. And then, I'd like the full story."

Sakura stayed with her head in her hand, massaging across her brow before rubbing at her eyes.

"Do you promise not to have me committed?"

When there was no answer, Sakura took another swig and she told Tsunade everything. She explained the oddities that had been plaguing her from the first day they moved in; the sounds at night, the smell in the kitchen, the nightmares, and the cryptic fortune teller that had lead her to discovering Karin's photo. The photo that had winked at her.

Sakura finished the whiskey with a shaking hand, and Tsunade got up to pour her another. Her next sip finally helped with the tremors, as she felt her tight muscles start to relax.

"What happens now?" She asked, feeling more uncertain about her future than she had since childhood. "Naruto is gone for work half the month, and when he _is_ home I don't want to take up his time babysitting me when he should be with Sasuke. My parents aren't even in the country, and even if I thought I could let myself depend on Ino, this is way too much to put on her. Something is _happening_ in my apartment."

Tsunade fixed her with a firm look. "We're going to take this step by step, kid. First, we should think about exactly what is happening at your place, and find a solution."

Sakura scoffed. "What, like break out a ouija board? An exorcism? Get a goddamn priest? He'd burst into flames. Naruto and I don't believe in that shit."

Tsunade smirked, despite herself. "No. I don't think there is anything supernatural happening in your apartment."

This caught Sakura's attention. "What? How can you say that? You said yourself, something was breathing on you. She - _it,_ was _breathing_ on you."

Tsunade's expression was no-nonsense. "Sakura, I need you to trust me when I say, there is something else going on."

"What the fuck ELSE could it be!"

"Calm down," Her voice was firm, but not patronizing. "There actually quite a number of possibilities."

Sakura fought back the frustrated tears that threatened to spill out. She took another breath, willing herself to relax, although she couldn't stop the sarcasm from creeping into her response. "Alright. What do _you_ think?"

"There is a rare form of mold that can cause visual and auditory hallucinations. You have mentioned an odor a few times, I think we should pursue that avenue first. Since Naruto doesn't seem to be affected, it might require a build-up of the spore in your system over time."

"But then how could you have felt something?" Sakura frowned. "It affected you so fast."

"You're not going to like this answer as much," Tsunade admitted, "But it was nearly three in the morning by the time I came down. I was...in a state of physiological arousal, and the stressful situation left me vulnerable to psychological influence. That 'breath' could have been anything. The apartments are very old, except for your kitchen. I'm sure drafts aren't uncommon."

"Okay...so you think a spore is altering my perception?"

"Maybe. It's likely there are multiple factors here, culminating these experiences. I know there are a handful of experiments exploring the cause of sudden, seemingly inexplicable feelings of dread, or hallucinations. In a study conducted earlier this year where scientists were successfully able to artificially create a haunting, or a feeling of 'another presence' in the room. A sound resonating at a certain frequency can cause similar symptoms, sometimes affecting people nearby airports or manufacturing facilities."

Sakura swallowed harshly, her throat feeling dry. "Really?"

"Really. I've been doing a lot of research about this, because I've been worried things were heading."

Sakura frowned, unused to her usually inappropriately informal and casual friend speaking using so much clinical dialogue. Either Tsunade was treating her like a patient, or…

"Did you call Shikamaru, or Itachi?" Sakura asked flatly.

Tsunade bristled. "What, you don't think I can do my own research? You know as well as I do that I don't need a male colleague to mansplain medical science."

Sakura rolled her eyes, and made a point of not looking back at Tsunade. She tried to keep a handle on the anger boiling inside her. Anger that Tsunade was talking to someone about her. Anger that she had no control anymore. Anger that her feelings were futile.

Tsunade turned red, easily reading Sakura's emotions. "I may have...asked Shikamaru to point me in the right direction."

When she was met with silence, Tsunade added. "I didn't mention you by name."

"I'm sure you didn't have to." Sakura snorted.

"If you know him so well, I'm sure you understand that he knows better than to make assumptions."

The room was quiet while Sakura tried to stifle her tears and mollify her frustrations.

"Sakura," Tsunade brought her attention to focus once again. "Whatever it is, I believe your heightened stress is making it worse. Regardless of the cause, I think you should spend sustained time away from your unit to see if that has an impact. Two to four weeks, at least."

"Where the hell am I going to go, Tsunade? I can't afford a hotel and I'm not going to stay with Ino. 'Hi, we barely know each other but I'm having a complete breakdown, can I move in with you?' Not going to happen."

Tsunade regarded her from the other side of the couch, taking her time with her answers.

"Sakura..does Ino ever talk to you about her ER rotation?"

She blinked, not following. "No, not really. She mentioned it, and that its why you two are close, but nothing more than a couple stories."

"The emergency room of a hospital is a...unique place. You walk away with crazy stories, but not everyone is Steve-O with a toy car in his rectum. It is a dark part of the hospital. Young people, babies, come in half dead. When they're conscious, the cling to you and beg you save them. You have precious seconds to _try_. Everyone has to be in tune with each other. But beyond that, seeing what you see, watching patients live and die, bonds you. ERs become a family." Tsunade leaned forward, refocusing on Sakura and locking their eyes. "So believe me when I say, after working in the ER with her, I know Ino. That girl is wild about you."

The unexpected topic startled her. "W-what? Really?"

Tsunade nodded. "And she's worried about you. If you asked to stay with her for a few weeks, I _know_ she will let you. And don't thinks she's so fragile, either; that girl's got steel balls. It's going to take a lot more than you to break her."

Sakura breathed out a long sigh. Her mind was beginning to spin from the liquor and the stress. "Fine," She conceded. "Fine, I'll ask."

"Excellent. Third shift gets off in a few hours. I'll have her come in and take you home."

Sakura's jaw dropped, but she just shook her head and massaged her aching temple. "It's almost like you plan this, with how well everything lines up for you."

Tsunade's eyes reflected regret. "Ooh, child. If only I could."

* * *

I think it's pretty clear by this point, but Sakura's fucking _losing_ it, and I don't know if you've ever been delirious from stress and sleep, but you do not become a nice person. I think we all know Sakura has a bit of a …'rawr' side, and it's comin out now.

Spooky dreams ftw! I want you all to shit your pants. Are you ready for the next chapter? (;

*Rina: after some cursory research on Karin's mom, I couldn't find a proper name. Pretty much all I could find was that she was supes powerful and came from the kusogakure, which is the land of grass. And..I remember that the name Rina can be formed with characters meaning 'green/blue' and 'vegetable' so...Rina in part means green. Grass is green. This is my logic. #languagenerd


	6. Part V

WARNING: super gross descriptions of decomposition/gore and there is also vomiting. Also, an unrelated sex scene in the beginning! Ya'll be warned.

* * *

Friday, September 15th

6:48am

Sakura was dreaming again.

She was hunched in an uncomfortable position, digging. She was desperately clawing at the earth with her hands. It was dark, with the world around her nothing more than shadow and grass. The hands in front of her were caked black with dirt, her body covered from the spray she had created.

Sakura was close, she could sense that she was.

Her fingers finally scraped against something solid in the dirt. Her hands shook with the effort to dig it out, pulling till her fingers burned with the strain. She finally lifted it from the earth, setting the black box to the side. She pulled the lid off, pushing hair and dirt from her face to better see inside.

The box contained a model kitchen. Sakura blinked hard, holding it closer to her face. She was drawn to movement within the model; there was something pushing up from the tiny tiles in the middle of the kitchen floor. She reached a finger in to see what was underneath when a hand shot up from the earth.

The filthy hand grabbed her wrist and she dropped the box. A decrepit body emerged from the pit of dirt before her, pushing Sakura onto her back with its body. She felt a swell of terror and then, the dream shifted.

At the feel of weight on her, she looked down to see soft, blonde hair. The hand that gripped her wrist changed from monstrous to familiar, creamy skin. The darkness around her began to lighten, a beige-pink glow. The fear slid away from her, as a warmth grew between her legs. It hummed, feeling incredibly pleasant.

A small sound came from the back of her throat, and she felt herself rising from sleep, pulled gently by the feeling between her legs.

"Good morning, my love."

Ino's voice drifted to her while her consciousness lingered between dream and reality. She became aware of the hand working her clit with the same firm, gentle pressure that she had felt on her wrist.

Sakura sighed in pleasure, opening her eyes to the morning light that trickled into Ino's bedroom. Ino kissed her neck as she moved her fingers down the slightest bit, causing Sakura's hips to flex unintentionally into the touch.

"You were having a nightmare." Ino whispered.

"Mm, not anymore," Sakura said, kissing her again. When Sakura had begun having nightmares while sleeping next to Ino, her girlfriend suggested a physiological distraction from the mental stress. Needless to say, her system worked.

Sakura pushed the blankets down to reveal her bare chest, arching up at Ino. Ino chuckled, getting the hint. She took her time, teasing Sakura's tanned skin as she moved incrementally down to her nipple. Ino circled the nub with her tongue tauntingly until Sakura made a groan of frustration. Satisfied, Ino drew it into her mouth sharply, coming right to the brink of pain without crossing over. Sakura's groan turned into a gasp at the intense feeling on her sensitive body.

She started moving her hips into Ino's touch, coming close to orgasm. But before she could, as always, Ino's two fingers instead slipped into her girlfriend's slick entrance.

Sakura's body felt flushed and warm from the attention, frustrated by not being able to finish. Thankfully, she had found a way around Ino's edging.

Sakura shifted slightly so her hand could reach between Ino's legs. The other woman tensed at the touch, shuddering slightly in pleasure. She was already so wet. Sakura dipped her fingers gently into Ino's folds, feeling the ring of muscle there jump at her teasing. Once her fingers were slick, she moved up to Ino's clit and started the slow, tight circles that drove her crazy. The fingers that worked inside Sakura quickened, and she felt Ino's breath come in pants against her breast. Sakura shifted again, her left hand crossing under to work her own clit as well as Ino's. The added stimulation made Ino's fingers feel all the more pleasurable and she moaned. Ino pulled Sakura's nipple back into her mouth, and it wasn't long until she was coming. She tried to time her fingers on Ino, but had a feeling she lost her rhythm as she came. Still, it must have been enough because Ino was coming soon after.

The girls fell apart, holding hands tightly between the sweaty bodies as their breathing slowed and the high lingered.

Ino pushed herself up onto an elbow and kissed Sakura gently and deeply. When she finally pulled away, she smiled down at the other woman. "Come on, I'll make us coffee."

Soon, Sakura was sitting at Ino's kitchen table, one leg pulled up to her chest, watching Ino spread avocado over toast while water boiled on the stove.

Ino brought a few slices over to the table. She sprinkled on a pinch of salt, and slid the plate across to Sakura with a warm smile before going back into the kitchen to watch Sakura take her small, thoughtful bites.

"So," Ino began. "What was the dream?"

Sakura froze. Then she closed her eyes and swallowed around her suddenly dry mouthful of toast.

"You don't have to tell me."

Ino's tone was neutral, but Sakura knew she wanted to know. She shook her head. "It was a new one."

Ino raised her eyebrows, but didn't say anything more as she tipped the boiling water into the grounds of the pour-over.

"I was digging in the dark for this...weird box. But when I opened it, it was just a model of a little kitchen." She frowned, trying to remember. "Then it gets foggy, because…."

Ino smirked then in understanding. "Can't say I'm that sorry."

Sakura smiled back, genuinely. "Me neither."

Ino brought the two cups into the dining area and sat down adjacent to Sakura. She let them sip and eat in silence for a while before speaking again.

"Are you ready to go back today?"

Sakura sighed. She hadn't been looking forward to it, but today marked three weeks.

Her dreams had stopped ripping her from sleep after the week at Ino's, and she had been permitted to return to work part time after that. The apartment had tested negatively for any type of mold, and no one who had gone in since to get samples or run tests (including Tsunade's nephew, Konohamaru, and his 'paranormal research team') seemed to experience anything wrong. This was the day they decided she would try the apartment again, but distance had not made her heart grow fonder.

Despite her deep trepidation, she looked Ino in the eye.

"Yeah, I am."

* * *

They pulled up to the apartment together at one. The sun was bright and warm, the property of the complex had a welcoming air as they drove past the sculpted hedges and immaculate grass.

Still, Sakura wasn't soothed. Her heart was in her throat as they pulled into her parking spot and she laid eyes on the front window where she had seen the figure that lead to her unraveling. She swallowed thickly, and Ino reached over to give her hand a gentle squeeze.

Sakura bit the inside of her lip, trying not to feel foolish. She was a grown woman. She didn't need anyone to coddle her.

She undid her buckle and climbed out without looking at Ino's face. She didn't want to see pity there in those blue eyes.

They walked up to the door in silence, Ino giving Sakura her space. She ignored the shaking in her hand as she unlocked the door and pushed it open into the apartment.

She stepped in, bracing for some feeling of overwhelming terror, or another sighting of the apparition. As she looked around, however, all she saw was a sunny apartment, full of all the familiar things she shared with Naruto. The foolishness she was fighting off flooded her, rushing through her as a tightening in her stomach and flushing of her cheeks. Finally, she looked to Ino's face.

Her partner was standing nearby, watching her with a calculating eye. Finally, her face split into a smile.

Sakura let out a small laugh, running a hand through her hair. "It's just an apartment. Why do I feel so relieved?"

"Because you've been stressing out about Amityville Apartment for a month and a half. Let's get some clothes for you."

They went to her bedroom, going through her drawers for a while before getting distracted by Ino pulling down one of Sakura's high school yearbooks. Sakura showed Ino the embarrassing pictures of her and Naruto, telling her all about their pranks and misadventures as teenagers.

By the end of the hour, Sakura's anxieties were completely abated.

That assurance made what unfolded next all the more agonizing.

The couple had been walking through the hall when Sakura stepped on a loose board beneath the carpet. The creak and groan of the wood caught her attention.

"Huh. I don't think the carpet used to be squishy right there. I hope they don't have dry rot in this place." She frowned down at the spot.

Ino came up behind her, wrapping her arms around Sakura's middle. "Oh no, you'd have to spend more time at my place while they fixed it."

Sakura turned to catch Ino's lips, but stopped when the shift in their body weight made a squeaking sound on the floor. She frowned down at it again, but Ino shrugged.

"It could be anything. You never know what's under these apartments."

As soon as the words left Ino's lips, something shifted inside Sakura. A vision of Karin decomposing into the kitchen floor; her body falling beneath the tiles to rot. The pulsating of the models tiny tiles in her dream.

A foul taste flooded her mouth. Almost like copper, but it was...wrong somehow. Her throat ran dry and her eyes started to sting. It felt like something was invading her body. When the thought hit her, she realized she couldn't move. Her body was moving, but it was not in her control any longer.

"Whoa Sakura, are you okay?"

Ino's worried voice sounded like it was coming from very far away. Sakura blinked at her, stepping away. It almost felt like something was wearing her limbs, muscles moving purposefully, confidently, but not of her volition.

Rotten breath blew a whisper into her ear.

 _"I'm here...underneath._ "

And suddenly, Sakura knew. Ino's voice came back to her, but it didn't matter. Sakura finally understood.

"Sakura baby, talk to me!"

Ino's hand was gripping her arm, but Sakura pulled free. The forced motion of her body felt different now, as if there was a part of her that was willing now.

"She's here," Was all she could say to Ino as she turned and went to Naruto's room.

Ino watched her pass, worry written into her features. "Who's here? What do you mean?"

Sakura's body opened Naruto's closet, robotically gripping the firehouse axe that Naruto had smuggled home in his first year.

"Where are you going?" Ino was hot on her heels, distress evident. She blanched at the sight of the axe, backing away and putting up her hands, "Holy shit, what are you doing with that? _Hey, answer me_!"

Sakura's body took her back through the apartment, into the kitchen. Her eyes were stuck on the spot where, in her dreams, she had watched Karin's corpse dissolve again and again.

"You're scaring me baby, don't you think we should stop and talk about this?" She pleaded as she came to stand beside Sakura in the kitchen. She reached out a hand to comfort her lover, but jumped backward in surprise when Sakura swung the axe high above her head.

" _NO_!" Ino screamed.

-SMASH-

The axe came crashing into the tile, slamming through the cheap linoleum and cracking directly into the wood.

"Sakura, _stop_!" Ino cried, desperate to help but terrified to get between Sakura and the swinging metal.

But Sakura would not stop. She knew she couldn't, not now when finally knew how to end this.

"Sakura for fucks sake _stop_ or I'm going to- _WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!_ "

A scream ripped through the kitchen, for upon the last upheaval the axe pulled with it not just splinters of tile and snags of wood, but an entire chunk of the floor. The wood was thin and cheap, splattered with mold, but it was what lay beneath; the piece that had been torn away perfectly revealed a human face. The jaw hung open, flesh rotted away exposing all of it's teeth and sections of white bone. Eyes were long decomposed, as was the nose, leaving nothing but black voids. The expression seemed twisted in agony somehow, looking for all the world like hopelessness.

But Sakura knew who it was, for surrounding the poor, tortured head was long, blood red hair.

Sakura fell backwards against the wall in shock as her body was returned to her. She screamed, scrambling away from the decimated floor and wretched, for the air was ripe with the stench of death.

The front door to the apartment burst open, swinging almost off its hinges and banging into the wall as Tsunade powered through it. The older woman sprinted to them, her face flushed with effort and fear.

"What's going on? I heard screa-" She stopped dead at the sight of the decimated kitchen and the body.

Ino reached out and pulled Sakura away from the corpse and her own vomit, clutching her as tears streamed from her eyes.

Tsunade's stunned expression was quickly replaced with a hollow calm. "Girls, get out of the apartment. I'll call the police."

* * *

Sunday, September 25th

7:15pm

" _Stanley Bassich is being charged with the murder of Karin Uzumaki. The teen went missing this February, shocking the community of her peers when she was abducted on her way home from Konoha high school._ " The television panned over an impromptu memorial for the red haired girl. At the sight of a large photo of the face that haunted her, Sakura punched the button to change the channel with her thumb, feeling numbness.

" _Gruesome details emerge from the Miramonte complex, where maintenance worker Stanley Bassich has been arrested for the murder of a young girl earlier this-_ "

Sakura shut off the tv, closing her eyes and scrubbing at them with her hands. None of the reports covered the worst part; the girl's left hand had been removed. She felt ill and jumped at the touch of a gentle hand on her back.

"Sorry," came Naruto's voice.

She shook her head. "It's alright."

She sat between Ino and Naruto, while Sasuke stood near the couch. He had called earlier that day to let her know the station was releasing the information on the case, and that an arrest had been made. When Naruto found out, he insisted they come to watch the news unfold that evening with her, at Ino's place.

Sakura expected to feel different, watching the footage of the alleged murderer's arrest. There had been a heaviness in her chest since she found Karin. She still didn't have words to describe what had happened to her body that day, and the thought of it still gave her stomach a twist.

"The trial is set for March," Sasuke informed her with a grimace.

She nodded, bleakly. There was an unknown that clung to her mind; she saw Karin. Karin had haunted her dreams and..maybe her waking life. Her head twitched with the thought. She had never believed in ghosts before. She was a woman of science and logic. Until this, she had never had any sort of faith in this 'unknown'. As the days stretched on, her confidence in what she experienced lessened. At least, it had until she saw her face again. That image had sent such a visceral response though her body, giving her chills at just the thought.

The silence between her friends stretched into an uncomfortable one. She noticed, but found she couldn't care enough to fight it. She only had one thing on her mind.

"I wonder...what really happened."

Knowing what she meant, they all shared a look above her head, but she didn't regret voicing it.

"How could I have known where..and what…" Sakura trailed off, not knowing exactly how to say it.

Naruto surprised them all. "I wish it had been me."

"Excuse me?" Ino questioned harshly at the same time Sasuke ushered a terse, "Naruto!"

But Sakura felt deeply perplexed. "What do you mean?"

He looked sheepish at the response, but he answered. "I just meant...that I have no idea what you went through. I don't know if that was...real, or not, you know?"

Sasuke frowned. "I don't think this is a prudent discussion."

"No, I...I want to talk about it. I felt possessed, that day. It was like my body wasn't mine, and I feel crazy for saying that." She looked up at Naruto. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone, but...it would be nice if you knew, too. There were so many things that I can't explain. Even you, Sasuke, couldn't explain how my phone ended up in my room. Or how I knew her..in my dreams."

Sasuke's displeasure grew even more evident on his face, but he didn't say anything.

"Look," Ino said, finally stepping in. "Maybe there are ghosts. Or maybe, there were subconscious cues that you picked up on that lead you to these experiences. Or maybe something else happened, we can't really know. But the reason we can't know is because it's over now." Ino wrapped an arm around Sakura, kissing her temple. "You went through trauma. Things are going to be hard and strange, but they're going to get better. I think the one thing we can all agree on is that we're here for you."

A very small smile twitched at the corner of Sasuke's lips, but Naruto's expression wasn't placated.

Sakura felt her brows furrow. "What's wrong?"

Naruto lifted a suspicious eyebrow at Ino. "Have you been talking to Shikamaru?"

Sakura was about to defend her girlfriend when from the corner of her eye she saw an expression not of indignance, but something that more closely resembled a child caught in a cookie jar. As the smile broke out onto her face, she felt for the first time since it all began, like things might really be okay again. Somehow.

* * *

It's so good to write again.

One more chapter! Then I'm focusing on a gift fic for someone and then the next chapter of Sanguine will be up. Again, sorry this took so long. I think ya'll can see the parts that I wanted to make sure I got right.


	7. Part VI

Mega violence in this chapter. Gore. A LOT of gore! Seriously, not for the faint of heart. You've been warned!

-If you have been enjoying this story and can't handle gore, you can leave your email in a review or something (or message me on tumblr/my email/etc) and I'll tailor the chapter for you!-

* * *

October 31st

3:30pm

"Are you sure you're going to be good tonight?"

Sakura turned from where she stood in Ino's living room to see her girlfriend paused in her way out the door, holding her labcoat and work bag with some awkwardness.

"Ino," She soothed with a smile, "I'll be fine. Naruto mentioned he might come by later, and I'm sure there will be lots of trick or treaters to keep me busy."

Ino nodded, but her expression was still an unhappy one. "Just..turn off the porch light if you get overwhelmed, okay?"

Sakura bit down a smile. Her girlfriend had been worried about leaving Sakura alone tonight ever since her schedule at the hospital had been released at the beginning of the month. It had been almost comical to see the assertive, professional woman so worked up about scheduling. And if Sakura was being honest, the attention was nice. She was unused to being doted over, but after what had happened in her apartment, it was a tremendous relief to not have anything to worry about. Ino took care of everything, going as far as enlisting the help of others to cover her shifts.

Tonight, however, there was a shortage of helping hands (as holidays of any kind are unheard of in healthcare), and Ino was unable to avoid leaving Sakura alone.

Sakura crossed the room to where Ino was lingering by the front door. She picked Ino's ID card from where it hung next to their keys, tucking it into the pocket of her lab coat and giving her a chaste kiss.

"I'm fine. I'll give you a call on your lunch break, if that will help."

Ino's anxiety eased minimally. "Yes," She conceded. "I'll let you know when I'll be off."

Sakura kissed her again, shooing her out the door. "Sounds good."

Ino waved goodbye from her car as she pulled out and headed toward the hospital. The wind blew with a slight autumn chill into the house, and Sakura quickly closed the door against the cold.

As she went back through the house, Sakura felt how odd it was to be here alone. It had been two months since she started staying here, a move made much more quickly in this relationship than in any of her previous ones. Then again, there was very little about this relationship that was similar to her experiences so far.

Sakura had never dealt with a trauma as great as finding a dead body. Considering her vast network of support and experience with traumatized clients, she was recovering well. Still, she carried the numbness and ache she felt the night they watched the arrest of Karin's alleged murderer. There were still days where she questioned everything that happened; every move she made; every dream; everything she _thought_ she saw. There were days where she felt paralyzed with the guilt of having made her morning coffee and prepared meals mere inches from a corpse of an innocent girl.

She remembered the decomposing face that stared with sightless sockets up at her from it's tomb.

Sakura shook her head at the image and immediately turned on the television, seeking distraction. Unfortunately, she realized her mistake almost as soon as the screen came alive. Cheesy, high-pitched hollywood screams erupted from the TV as the image of a 1980s zombie stalked toward the camera. It's campy special effects burned the image of melting, brown flesh into her eyes. The memory of the smell of rotting death sent her stomach twisting and pulse picking up. Sakura dropped the remote as she fumbled to turn it off.

Sakura had never been a fan of horror movies the way Naruto was, but now so much as a B-film and she could find herself in tears. The reality of her weakness filled her with a bitter anger as her eyes stung.

With trembling hands, she finally switched the television off and left the room. She shakily slid the tea kettle onto a burner and pressed her back up against the kitchen counter. She allowed herself to slide down onto the floor, where she drew her knees up and hugged them tightly as she took slow, deliberate breaths.

Maybe she should have asked Ino to stay.

She breathed in deep, smelling the spices that lingered in the air from their dinner the night before. She exhaled.

Maybe she could call Tsunade.

Another inhale.

Or..maybe just keep breathing. Maybe she could fix this on her own.

Exhale.

Sakura continued her meditative breathing, carefully clearing her mind. Thankfully, the kitchen in which she sat had a completely different look than the one she destroyed at her apartment. Here, there was no little island, instead a sprawling wall of cabinets and a sink across from a classic black and white refrigerator and matching oven. A small, yellow chair was seated by an end table in front of the kitchen window that spilled light into the warm room.

Finally, Sakura opened her eyes at the sound of the whistling kettle. She stood, relieved that she felt no lingering dizziness or panic. She brought down a mug and a cup of Ino's favorite chai blend. Something about the other woman was so comforting to her. Everything between them was warm, welcoming, and cozy. She poured the water and added the tea bag, hesitating a moment before reaching for a bottle of whiskey. She eyeballed a shot into the scalding brew, and put it back.

Sakura sat at the table with her mug, hands loosely wrapped around the warm cup, trying to let the heat relax her. The steam rose lazily into the air, dissipating slowly into the fading natural light in the room.

The sudden vibration from her phone made her jump.

 _Naruto (dipshit) Uzumaki 4:02pm_

 _Sup betch._

Sakura breathed out a laugh.

 _Sakura 4:03pm_

 _Not much dipshit. Ino left for work a few minutes ago. You still thinking of coming by tonight?_

 _dipshit 4:05pm_

 _Yeah, Sasuke's got work tonight. Cool if I come over a little later than we planned?_

 _Sakura 4:05pm_

 _Sure. Something special come up?_

 _Dipshit 4:06pm_

 _Kiba won a couple tickets to a haunted house. Didn't think you would be interested, though._

Sakura felt her heart clench at the thought.

 _Sakura 4:08pm_

 _Definitely not. I saw two seconds of_ Night of the Living Dead _just now and about had a panic attack. I don't think that would be a pretty sight._

There was a lull in the text, and she wondered if that was a bit too far. She was trying to make a joke like they always did. She needed to be able to. If Naruto was going to treat her differently now, well.. she didn't think she could handle that.

Her phone buzzed again, interrupting her spiraling thoughts. It buzzed a couple more times as a handful of texts came in at the same time.

 _Dipshit 4:16pm_

 _Did I tell you I took Sasuke to a haunted house last week? I picked him up from work, he was still in uniform. A couple of his coworkers came with us, and man, they're way cooler than he says, ofc._

 _Anyway, we go into the first section and it's a haunted hospital. One of the ghost dudes comes around the corner and scared Sasuke so bad he grabbed his gun! Didn't take it out, but I saw his hand fly back there._

 _Everyone thought it was hilarious. I had to walk in front of him through the rest of the section while he kept his head down. I've never seen him so pissed at me!_

 _HAHAHAHAH_

Maybe it was the whiskey, but Sakura found herself snickering at the story.

 _Sakura: 4:18pm_

 _Damn Naruto, that's cold! He make you sleep on the couch?_

 _Dipshit 4:19pm_

 _Nah, he'd miss this sweet ass._

 _How you doing, dude? Ino's working, right? You come back okay from your panic attack on your own?_

Sakura felt a smile tug at her lips. Despite her anxiety, Naruto had always been a good friend to her.

 _Sakura 4:20pm_

 _Yeah, I'm good. Thanks for checking._

 _Dipshit 4:20pm_

 _I can come over now, dude. I can ditch out on Kiba, no problem._

Sakura considered it, but ultimately she didn't want to contend with the guilt she felt at being a burden on everyone lately. She told him she was fine, just like she told Ino, and they agreed that Naruto would come over around nine.

Feeling a lot better than she had before, Sakura decided to busy herself with chores. She vacuumed the apartment and took out the trash, answering 'happy halloween' texts that were thinly veiled attempts to check up on her from Tsunade, Kakashi and the other people who loved her.

She would be okay.

* * *

As the sun slipped below the horizon, Sakura finally stopped folding laundry to set up a bowl of candy by the inside of the door for easy access. She flicked on the porch light and heard her phone chime. Naruto wasn't supposed to be over for another hour and a half; she wondered if he was going to be delayed. She hoped not, because with the darkness had come a creeping sense of unease.

Sakura was surprised to see a voice message on her phone. She hadn't heard it ring, and no call was logged. Sakura slid her thumb to play the three minute voicemail.

She jumped at the sound of loud, aggressive static, dropping the phone. It clattered to the ground but she could hear the static as though the phone was still pressed to her ear.

Without letting up the noise, a thick, black liquid came pouring from the speaker and formed a pool of sludge. The crackling and popping of the static started to hiccup, parting just long enough for a voice to whisper;

" _You fucked up."_

The lock to the front door clicked, and it swung open with a breeze from the darkness far too cold to be natural. When Sakura turned back to her phone, on the brink of hyperventilation, she screamed. A hand had emerged from the murk, shooting out fast and wrapping itself around her ankle before she could escape.

Rancid breath washed over her, and her attempts at kicking away the monstrosity crawling its way up out of the puddle felt weak, like she was fighting underwater. The same invasive feeling she had experienced the night she found the body gripped her, and in a horrible moment she faced the undeniable truth that it was real. Everything she thought was coincidence was real, and it wasn't over.

A slimy mess of a monster crawled out of the puddle toward her as she screamed. It looked like a person, but they were eerily thin and coated in the black substance that kept their shape vague and their boundaries unclear. It reached a grimy hand up to her face, covering it, and Sakura gagged at the taste of old blood in her mouth. She gasped at the burning of her throat, and her eyes watered. She coughed and choked until it had taken her over, and she slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

In the dream that followed, Sakura was sitting in the house she grew up in. The decor was the same as it had been when she was a child, familiar and warm. She was on the loveseat, facing where their tv had been. The television was gone, and instead there was an open window. Like a screen, it showed a crooked view into a moving car. A car she was driving.

To her right, sat a pretty young girl with long red hair and glasses, looking out the window with her.

"I needed your body to travel. I couldn't get to him on my own."

Sakura wanted to reply, to ask what she meant, but she couldn't speak. Her body was relaxed in the couch to the point of paralysis.

"I am a thing of hate, now. After what they did to me. I don't mean to cause you pain, but I have to."

Sakura felt herself tilting forward, as though the room was beginning to slope. The car in the window stopped.

"I chose you, Sakura, because you are strong enough. You are the only one who could handle my burdens. It is important you remember that."

And then she was falling, pitching forward where she collided with the Sakura in the window, who had turned to stare at her.

In a nauseating jolt, she fell into consciousness as a prisoner in her body once more. She was out of the car in a neighborhood she didn't recognize, the ghost inside her controlling her with perfect, precise movements. The house was looming and dark, all chipped gray paint and splintering wood. A front window was partially boarded. She put up as much of resistance as she could, as everything inside her was screaming to not go near this house.

Instead, she moved steadily closer, up the creaking porch and to the plain wood door. Without warning, one leg shot out and kicked the door dead center, sending it off its hinges and clattering into dark house with almighty racket.

"What the fuck!" Shouted an angry male voice from deeper inside the house.

With no hesitation, with no fear, she felt herself step into the house and into the cloud of dust that loomed around the fallen door. They were in a wide entryway, where to the left was a disused living area and the blue glow of a television emanated from around the corner. A hallway stretched into the house, a wooden staircase beside it leading to a second floor balcony that was barely visible through the darkness and dust. The ceiling was high and exposed, wooden beams criss crossing in what might have once been the start of an attic.

Suddenly, the light was blocked by a hulking figure. A pale, middle aged man stood in the doorway, his shaggy grey hair uncombed and clothes old, comfortable and stained. His shoulders heaved with shuddering, furious breaths and his hands flexed into fists.

"The fuck did you do to my door!"

At the sound of his voice, Sakura felt suddenly gripped by an indomitable rage. A rage that wasn't hers, and she realized that this was him. This was the man that murdered Karin.

He took a step towards her, but Sakura found she wasn't at all afraid. Instead, she felt her body fly forward and with a strength she had never possessed, wrapped a hand around his throat and lifted the stranger off his feet.

He clawed at her hand, but his bulky fingers couldn't peel away her slender, pale ones.

"Who the fuck are you?" he choked out, eyes bulging.

Sakura heard herself laugh. It was a chilly, malicious laugh she'd never heard before. When she spoke, her voice was warped, almost as if it had been put through a modulator.

"You mean you don't remember me?"

Sakura felt another tug from deep inside her stomach, and then she was falling.

She hit the floor, but when she looked up, the young girl that had possessed her body remained. In the faint light of the room, Sakura could see her skin was grey and her form was skinny, but somehow she held him strong.

"How about now?"

She dropped him on the floor and he collapsed. Karin laughed again, and he stared at her with shocked, wide eyes and mouth hung open in a silent scream as he tried to back away from her.

"No," He said in disbelief. "No, I _killed_ you! This is some fuckin joke!"

Sakura caught the glint of something shiny in his hand, just before he collected himself enough to lung at Karin with it.

Sakura screamed and pressed herself back into the far wall when she saw the knife pass through Karin's middle, going so deep it peeked out of the girl's back. The stranger staggered back, crouching slightly as though he was ready for another attack as silence stretched between the three of them.

Sakura looked to the door, about to make a break for it when Karin's laughter started again. She watched from behind as Karin pulled the knife from her own stomach, inch by inch, until it was free. She held it while she laughed, and Sakura could see the knife was clean, devoid of any blood.

Karin's form suddenly blurred for a moment before stabilizing, and the stranger started to scream. Not like before, not angry or afraid. It was a scream of pain.

Karin dropped the knife and whatever else she had been holding. The knife fell with a loud clattering, but there was a sick, wet thump on the floor. Sakura blinked and squinted, trying to understand what she was looking at.

A hand.

 _His_ hand. That's why...that's why he's screaming. She looked to where he had fallen to the floor, clutching at his wrist that ended in an unnaturally smooth cut.

Sakura felt sick. She didn't want to see this, she didn't want to be a part of any of it. She made to crawl toward the front door, but flinched back when a long, thick snake came at her through her only exit.

When she was flat against the wall, as far away as she could get without getting closer to the monster, she blinked at the snake. It moved like a snake, but it looked...wrong. It didn't seem to have a head. It didn't have scales.

Sakura wiped at the tears in her eyes until she could see it clearly for what it was.

A rope.

It slithered through the dust and blood over to Karin, who reached a hand to it. The rope moved up her arm, collecting in her hands like a python. She lunged for the man then, wrapping the rope around his neck and jerking him toward her. He tumbled, laying flat on his stomach while Karin put a foot on his back, tying the rope into a noose. She tightened it, a cruel smile forming at the sound of his choking. She stepped down, kicking him in the shoulder until he was on his back.

The monster knelt down, reaching a hand across his prone form and grabbing his face. Screams of horror morphed back into screams of pain as her palm slipped beneath his skin, disappearing slowly until Karin had invaded him completely.

His screams grew impossibly loud as Karin mutilated him from the inside out. His body convulsed violently, until Sakura thought she would go mad if it went on any longer.

The house started to shake, old pictures fell off the walls and shattered, slams and thumps came from all around as furniture crashed to the ground. Sakura watched the chaos, unable to shield herself as she watched the crescendo through watery eyes.

The rope lifted from behind the man, and began dragging him toward the back of the hallway. It slid him across the glass on the floor, ripping another scream from his throat as shards stuck into his broken body.

Slowly, just as slowly as Karin had pulled out the knife, his body began to rise. His choking started anew, loud and desperate as the stranger helplessly fought for his life. His eyes bulged as the noose tightened, killing him with painstaking delicacy, drawing out every moment of pain.

Above his head, the rope wound itself around an exposed beam, tying securely. Once the knot was tight, the man began to lift again and the rope went slack long enough for him to reach a desperate hand to Sakura.

"Help me!" His voice was weak and hoarse, but Sakura couldn't ignore it. "Please! I-"

He dropped. A sickening snap broke his neck and he went limp, form swinging gently from the force.

For a long time after that, the only sound was Sakura's sobs. When the ringing of her phone broke across the quiet, she screamed at the sound before fumbling to answer.

" _Sakura_!" Naruto's panicked voice shouted through the speaker. " _Sakura are you there? Are you okay? Your door was open and I've been trying to get a hold of you for hours! Where are you?"_

She cried harder in relief at the sound of her best friend. She choked a few times before she could finally articulate that she needed help.

" _Sakura where are you_?"

Sakura looked around the room in panic, feeling terrified that this new spark of hope might be ripped from her. "I don't know! I don't know where I am!"

From the darkness of the unused living room, an envelope slid towards her. It came to an unnaturally smooth stop in front of her knees, neat and perfect.

Not knowing what it was, Sakura startled again and shrank away from it, pressing herself into the wall.

" _Sakura?! What happened?_ "

Sakura wiped at the tears to see what had come at her. It was an electric bill, addressed to Andrew Giusti. With a shaking hand, she picked it up.

"Naruto I think..I think I'm at 40213 north Jefferson street, I need you to come get me! Help!"

There was a shuffling on the other side of the phone and Sasuke's deep, steady voice assured her they'd be there in three minutes, for her to stay put if she was safe.

"I don't know if I'm safe!"

" _Can you get outside?_ "

"I don't know, I-"

Sakura dropped the phone and screamed at the sight of the figure in the doorway.

Karin had come for her.

"I'm sorry," She sobbed, "I'm so sorry! I didn't know! I would have helped you sooner if I-"

Sakura was cut off when the figure held up a hand. Karin, still silhouetted against the light of the moon, moved forward until she could touch Sakura's heaving chest.

Sakura had expected pain. She had expected the smell of death, to choke out her last words to this monster as it tore her away from life, but instead there was warmth. Sakura stopped crying, her mind went foggy as though she couldn't remember why she had began in the first place.

The face of a pretty, red headed girl with dark eyes loomed before her. There was no terror, no decomposing flesh. Just soft, warm skin.

Sakura reached out a hand to touch it, movements sloppy, sedated.

The girl put a hand over Sakura's as it cupped her cheek.

"There is peace, in justice."

Sakura lost her hold on consciousness.

* * *

Next chapter should be the last.

Reviews help!


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